The gustation and growth performance of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus fed African basil, Ocimum gratissimum leaf meal supplemented diets was assessed in the present study. C. gariepinus of the initial weight of 6.96 ± 0.01g was evaluated over a 56 days period. Five experimental diets were formulated at 0 mg/g (control), 10 mg/g, 20mg/g, 30 mg and 40 mg/g inclusion levels of O. gratissimum. The leaf of O. gratissimum was treated by soaking in water for 72 hours and sun-dried. All diets were isonitrogenous with each treatment having two replicates. Fish fed the 40 mg/g O. gratissimum leaf meal also recorded the best growth performance in body weight gain and specific growth rate (SGR). Statistically, there was significantly increased growth and nutritional performance of fish in this study with increasing inclusion levels of O. gratissimum (P<0.05). There was no adverse effect of O. gratissimum supplementation on the histometric index of fish in this study (P>0.05). There was also significant increase in the gustation of fish with increasing O. gratissimum supplementation (P<0.05). Therefore, the present study suggests that O. gratisimum leaf meal may be supplemented up to 40mg/g level to increase gustation and growth performance of C. gariepinus.
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