A 56-day feeding trial was conducted to assess the replacement value of cooked and mechanically defatted sesame seed meal as dietary replacement of soybean meal in diets of Clarias gariepinus. All diets were prepared to be isonitrogenous, (40% crude protein), isolipidic (12% lipid) and isoenergetic (18 Mj/g). Cooked and mechanically defatted sesame seed meals were used to replace soybean meal at a rate of 0, 25, 50, 75, 100% respectively. The performance of the fish fed sesame seed meal-based test diets was compared to fish fed a soybean meal-based control diets containing 40% crude protein. Each treatment had three replicates using 15 catfish fingerlings per tank with mean initial body weight of 6.37 ± 0.21g. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in protein productive value, feed intake; specific growth rate, % weight gain and crude deposition between fish fed control diets and fish fed diets containing 25% sesame. Similarly there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in protein productive value, feed intake; specific growth rate, % weight gain and crude deposition between fish fed fish fed diets containing 25% sesame and fish fed diets containing 50% sesame. However, a significant difference (P < 0.05) was recorded between fish fed control diets and fish fed other test diets using the above indices. Comparable performance in growth nutrient utilization and carcass crude protein deposition in Clarias gariepinus fed diets with SSM25 and SSM50 showed that these meals could be viable means of improving the cost of fish feeding.

A 56-day feeding trial was conducted to assess the replacement value of cooked and mechanically defatted sesame seed meal as dietary replacement of soybean meal in diets of Clarias gariepinus. All diets were prepared to be isonitrogenous, (40% crude protein), isolipidic (12% lipid) and isoenergetic (18 Mj/g). Cooked and mechanically defatted sesame seed meals were used to replace soybean meal at a rate of 0, 25, 50, 75, 100% respectively. The performance of the fish fed sesame seed meal-based test diets was compared to fish fed a soybean meal-based control diets containing 40% crude protein. Each treatment had three replicates using 15 catfish fingerlings per tank with mean initial body weight of 6.37 ± 0.21g. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in protein productive value, feed intake; specific growth rate, % weight gain and crude deposition between fish fed control diets and fish fed diets containing 25% sesame. Similarly there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in protein productive value, feed intake; specific growth rate, % weight gain and crude deposition between fish fed fish fed diets containing 25% sesame and fish fed diets containing 50% sesame. However, a significant difference (P < 0.05) was recorded between fish fed control diets and fish fed other test diets using the above indices. Comparable performance in growth nutrient utilization and carcass crude protein deposition in Clarias gariepinus fed diets with SSM25 and SSM50 showed that these meals could be viable means of improving the cost of fish feeding.