Preliminary use of cashew kernel oil in Clarias gariepinus fingerlings diet: comparison with fish oil and palm oil

The present study was performed to investigate the effect of fish oil (FO), palm oil (PO), and cashew kernel oil (CKO) as the dietary lipid sources on the growth performance, tissues fatty acids composition and economical profitability in Clarias gariepinus fingerlings. Three isonitrogenous (49.32%), isolipidic (15.18%), and isoenergetic (21 kJ/g) diets were formulated, differed only to the added lipid source and coded accordingly as D1 (fish oil), D2 (palm oil), and D3 (cashew kernel oil). Catfish fingerlings (initial body weight = 2.43 ± 0.04 g) were stocked at 1 fish/L and fed to trial diets at 5.6%. At the end of 8 weeks, C. gariepinus fingerlings fed with D1 and D3 had significantly identical growth and feed utilization efficiency. Those fed with D2 exhibited significantly and numerically low growth performance compared, respectively, to D1 and D3. Contrary to whole-body composition of fish, the muscle lipids fatty acids composition was influenced by the fatty acids profile of the dietary lipid sources. High net profit value (NPV) of 24.59$, high investment cost analysis (ICA) of 10.14$ and low benefit: cost ratio (BCR) of 2.42 were observed in fish fed with D1 while those fed with D3 allowed to have high NPV (23.15$), low ICA (7.86$) and high BCR (2.95). Like others vegetable oils, cashew kernel oil can replace expensive fish oil in C. gariepinus fingerlings diet without negatively affecting its growth performances.