CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Fish plays an important role in the diet of the people of developing nations. It is a very

rich source of animal protein. In Nigeria, fish and fishing contribute immensely to the

national economy by providing high animal food protein and generating employment,

which is a means of poverty alleviation. The need for fish protein has been emphasized

with the projected population of 88.50 - 106.71 million and a population growth rate of

2.1% yr-1. Nigeria is the largest importer of frozen fish in the world with a fish demand of

between 106,200 - 128,052 metric tonnes year-1 from 1991 - 2000 and a fish per caput

consumption of 12 kg (Solarin, 1992).

Feeding of formulated feed to fish has become extravagant for the average Nigerian

farmer. This has therefore called for sustainable aquaculture feed development. Such

package must, as of necessity, include integrating fish farming with other agricultural

production as livestock. Integration of fish with livestock has been found to make

aquaculture and animal husbandry sustainable husbandry sustainable ventures for

common man and his immediate family. Such integration involves the recycling of

livestock wastes and processing by-products as manure and/or direct food for fish.

The effectiveness of cow, chicken and pig manure as a direct fish feed has been tested in

a variety of fish including: Common carp (Cyprinus carpio), (Shiloh and Viola, 1973;

Compos and Sampaio, 1976; Kerns and Roelofs, 1977), Tilapias (Sarotherodon

mossambica), channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), (Fowler and Lock, 1974; Lu and

Kevern, 1975) the African catfish, (Clarias gariepinus), Oladosu et al., 1990) and gold

fish (Carassius auratus), (Lu and Kevern, 1975). The usual approach in these
experiments was to incorporate the dried manure into a standard feed pellet as a

replacement for higher quality components as well as direct consumption of the manure

as pellets. The use of livestock wastes for fish production has been in practice for some

time in tropical countries like Nigeria. This study intends to review the extent of use and

the profitability of usage in fish production.

In Nigeria, about 932.5 metric tonnes (MT) of manure is produced annually from the well

established poultry/livestock industries which keep expanding at 8% yr-1 (Adejinmi,

2000). Adewumi and Adewumi (1996) reported that a layer produced an average of 161 g

of droppings/bird day-1 (Table 1). This large turnout of wastes from poultry, piggery,

cattle rearing etc encourages the growth of microbes, attracts houseflies, constitutes

health hazard to man, animals and thus become a menace to the environment.

Litter materials often need to be provided beneath cages to reduce drudgery of daily

cleaning. The droppings readily produce maggots when not cleaned or mixed with litter.

Litter materials itself becomes wet and a nuisance when its moisture content exceeds

30% and temperature is below 10°C. Oluyemi and Roberts (1988) reported that such wet

litter materials provide a suitable medium for the growth of Aspergillus and Coccidia

which cause aspergillosis and coccidiosis respectively in chicks.

In this wet condition, ammonia in the litter increases. A continuous exposure of birds to a

20 ppm ammonia concentration reduces feed intake, growth, egg production and

predisposes chicks to Newcastle disease and air sacculitis (Oluyemi and Roberts, 1988).

Furthermore, while picking the feedstuffs, the chicken scatters 10% of their food and

these, drop directly for fish consumption. Usually, good chicken feedstuff have a protein

content of over 18% and the total protein content of dry chicken excrement is between 10
 - 30% (Table 2), energy between 1100 - 1400 Kcal kg -1 manure and soluble vitamins are

synthesized in high concentration (Tuleun, 1992). Metabolizable energy in cow and

chicken manure is reported to range from 600 - 800 and from 900 - 1200 Kcal/kg for

conventional feed pellets (Shiloh and Viola, 1973) and 3,000 to 4,000 Kcal/kg for

zooplankton (Yurkowski and Tabachnek, 1979).

Use of livestock wastes in fish culture thus has a synergistic effect. Rangayya (1977)

reported that battery system of raising poultry on fish pond makes maintenance and

management easy and economical while it also helps in the production of ‘clean’ eggs. It

is thus a NO WASTE, low cost and low energy production system in which the by-

products of one enterprise is recycled into another as input.

1.2 Aims and Objectives

The objective of the study is to determine the effect of integrated fish cum livestock

production in fresh water fish pond.

The specific objectives are:

i. To determine the growth rate of fish cultured using livestock wastes.

ii. To raise Clarias gariepinus juveniles using livestock wastes

iii. To produce fish economically and raise farmers income and increase financial

benefit.

1.3 Justification of the studies

High cost of formulated fish feed both locally and internationally remains a major

constraints to the fish production in Nigeria. Integrated fish farming is known to be one

of the economical methods of fish production. In this study, the use of livestock wastes

(crop and goats) offer an economical fish production outlet as well as increasing farmers

income and social status.

 CHAPTER THREE

3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS

3.1 Location of the Study

The experiment will be conducted at the fisheries unit of the Experimental farm of the

Department of Fisheries Technology, College of Agriculture, Science and Technology,

Lafia. Lafia is located on Latitude 8 0 35’N, longitude 80 32’E, altitude 181.53m above sea

level with a mean temperature of 26.70 C, relative humidity of 75-87% and average day

light of 9-12h (NIMET, 2021).

3.2 Experimental Unit and preparation

The experimental unit will consist of four (4) plastic containers with a capacity of 100

litres each will be bought from Lafia Modern Market and properly before stocking.

3.3 Manure Disinfection

The manure to be used for the research will sheep and goat manure. The manure will be

transported to the experimental site disinfected before using bleach powder at

120g/500kg manure. This will be sprinkled on the manure and mixed properly before

feeding the fish.

3.4 EXPERIMENTAL fish

A total of 450 Clarias gariepinus juveniles will be purchased from a commercial fish

farm in Lafia. The fish will be transported to College fish farm and acclimatized for 7

days prior to commencement of the study. The fish will be separated into two groups A
 and B with A as the control while group B will be the treatment. Group A (Control) will

be raised without integration. While group B fish will be raised under semi-integrated

fish cum livestock. The control will be fed vital formulated diet.

3.6 Management

Feeding of fish will be done forth-nightly at 8:00am and 5:00pm. The fish will be fed at

5% - 3% of their body weight and adjusted weekly as the fish increase in body weight

and size. Cleaning of the pond will be done fortnightly to reduce debris and remove dead

fish. Water quality evaluation will be conducted using the methods prescribed by AOAC

(2000). Physic-chemical parameters to be evaluated will include pH, Dissolve Oxygen,

Temperature, Ammonia and Turbidity.

3.7 Physico-chemical Analysis

During the period of study the water sample will be analyzed for physic-chemical

parameters, the physical parameters such as temperature will be analyzed in the field

using thermometer and turbidity using sechi disc. while the chemical parameters analysis

will also be carried in the field using lamotte aquaculture test kit (model AQ.2 code

363303),for dissolved oxygen and biological oxygen demand (BOD), Ammonia and

alkalinity, carbon dioxide will be evaluated using digital electrolite meter APHA (2005).

3.8 Statistical analysis

Data on growth and feed conversion ratio will be correlated using analysis of variance

(ANOVA).
 DUMMY TABLE

Table 1: Nutrient Content of Cattle Manure

Moisture Nitrogen Protein Fat Crude fibre Ash Lysine

78.27 2.16 13.47 9.18 11.32 24.20 0.29

Table 2: mean weight gain survival and conversion ratio of clarias gariepinus fed catle
manure

Week No. of Initial Initial Weight Mean Total Feed Survival

ponds stocking stocking at weight number conversion rate
number weight harvest gain cropped ratio

1 mean

2 mean

3 mean

4 mean

5 mean

6 mean

NB: Percentage weight gain = (Wf - Wi) x100

Wi
2. Specific growth rate = ( Wf – Wi )x 100
T (days)
3. Survival rate = No of fish survived at the end of experiment x 100
Initial number of fish stocked

Table 3: Mean physic chemical parameter of cattle manured ponds

Week DO pH CO2 Ammonia Temperature

2
3

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