Effect of replacing fish meal by full fat soybean meal on growth performance, feed utilization and gastrointestinal enzymes in diets for African catfish Clarias gariepinus

Abstract Study aimed to evaluate the effect of replacing fish meal with different levels of full fat soybean meal (FFSBM) on growth and digestive enzyme activities in the stomach, Liver and intestine for Clarias gariepinus. Four diets (D1, D2, D3 and D4) were formulated with 0, 15, 20 and 20 g 100-1 protein + DL-methionine by alternating FFSBM with fish meal. The growth of C. gariepinus was found to be significantly decreased when FFSBM replacement increased. Final body weight was 89.69, 79.70, 70.82 and 68.29 g for fish fed on D1, D2, D3 and D4, respectively, with significant differences between treatments. Specific growth rate (SGR) ranged between 3.11 to 2.78%. Proteolytic activity was higher only with alkaline pHs, whereas only very low activity was shown with acidic. Results of liver showed approximately similar results at acid and alkaline. In contrast, higher proteolytic activity in the stomach was observed at acid pHs 3.0 and 4.0 μg tyrosine-1 minute-1 mg-1 protein) whereas lower values were observed at neutral pH 7.0 g tyrosine-1 minute-1 mg-1 protein for catfish fed on the experimental diets. Moreover, trypsin activity was higher for the stomach, followed by the intestine and liver. However, higher amount of amylase observed in the liver than intestine and stomach.