Comparative Growth Studies of Juvenile Kafue Bream (Oreochromis andersonii) and Nile Bream (Oreochromis niloticus) under Laboratory Conditions
Date
2015-10-26
Authors
Mupeyo, Bornwell
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Abstract
The study to compare the growth rates of juvenile Oreochromis andersonii (from Chilanga research farm) and O. niloticus (from Kalimba farms) in monoculture and polyculture systems under laboratory conditions was undertaken at the University of Zambia for a period of 8 weeks. 6 glassfish tanks were used in which 8 fish was placed in each tank. Twice daily feeding was done at specified periods of time. In the first 4 weeks the feeding level of the fish was at 5% and later reduced to 4% in the subsequent weeks. Weekly weighing of the fish was done and average growth rates calculated per week and other parameters such as temperature and pH were taken. The average growth rates obtained were 1.6g/fish/week for O. andersonii in a monoculture and 1.4g/fish/week for O. niloticus in a monoculture. In the polyculture of the two species, O. andersonii had 1.12g/fish/week, while O. niloticus had 1.3g/fish/week. The analysis of variance at the probability level of 0.05 showed that there were no significant differences (in growth rates) in the monoculture of the two species. There was also no significant difference found between O. andersonii and O. niloticus in the polyculture in terms of growth rates. Significant difference in growth was however found between monoculture and polyculture of O. andersonii with a probability of 0.0336. This probability level showed that O. andersonii in the monoculture faired better than in the polyculture. It was therefore concluded that, on the basis of performance, O. andersonii could be a fish of choice in aquaculture in Zambia because of its superior growth rates and it is easy to handle over the O. niloticus.
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Aquaculture , Fish-culture , Fish farming