A pre-dredging investigation of the physico-chemical qualities of the River Niger at the Onitsha-Urban Stretch was undertaken between January 2008 and December 2009. With the exception of the downstream station I and upstream station 5 (stations with minimal perturbations), stations 2, 3 and 4 had colossal but varied degrees of domestic, industrial, agricultural and automobile waste deposits. Of the 26 physico-chemical parameters determined, Transparency, Total Alkalinity, Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solid (TDS), Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Total Solid (TS), Depth, Nitrate, Lead, Iron and Calcium varied significantly (P<0.01) among the stations. Aposteriori Duncan Multiple Range test showed that Transparency was significantly (P<0.001) higher at station 5 than at the other stations. Total Alkalinity and Conductivity were higher in stations 2 and 3, 1 and 4 than in station 5. TDS, TSS and TS were significantly higher at stations 2, 3, 4 than in stations 1 and 5. Air and water temperatures were significantly different (P<0.05) across the 5 stations while CO 2 was significantly higher at station 1 than others. pH in stations 2 and 5 is significantly higher than it is in 1, 3 and 5. DO was higher in station 5 and 2 than the other stations. BOD was highest in stations 1 and 4 than the other three stations. The principal Component Analysis using Varimax Rotation showed that the major parameters controlling the water quality of the study area were pH, air temperature, transparency, BOD, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), total alkalinity, conductivity, water current, phosphate and total dissolved solids (TDS).

One thousand Clarias gariepinus fingerlings stocked at eighty fingerlings per tank were fed four types of artificial starter feeds: A (formulated starter feed, 45% crude protein (CP), B (Multi feed, 53% CP), C (Vital feed, 55% CP) and D (Aqua feed of 52% CP) and cultured for 30 days in twelve concrete tanks (1200 mm×1200 mm×1500 mm). Treatments were replicated three times, and fed at 5% body weight three times daily, under well monitored water parameters. There was no significance difference (p>0.05) in growth performance of C. gariepinus fingerlings. Multi feed recorded highest growth and percentage growth rate (PGR) in weight and length of 48.08 g (72.84%) and 16.60 cm (31.33%), followed by Aqua feed with 29.37 g (65.17%) and 14.88 cm (26.72%), Vital feed with 39.07 g (70.05%) and 15.04 cm (21.81%), formulated feed of 25.19 g (48.43%) and 11.40 cm (10.76%). Fingerlings fed Vital feed recorded highest survival count (77 survivors) and survival rate (96.25%), followed by formulated starter feed with 74 survivors (92.25%), Multi feed with 73 survivors (91.25%) and Aqua feed with 71 survivors (87.50%). Weight/length Correlation Coefficient (r) showed that Multi feed recorded highest (r) of 0.95, followed by Aqua feed (0.90), Vital feed (0.87) and formulated starter feed (87.50). C. gariepinus fingerlings need feeds of high CP at least 45% in their first 30 days of culture.Key Words: Diets, water quality, stocking density, growth parameter, Clarias gariepinus

Attempt to ensure fish food security is a continuous process and food safety is a global concern for consumers and food industry. Fish is an  important source of healthy and cheap source of animal protein that among its numerous benefit fish is widely acceptable, across socio-economic, age and religious barrier. However, supply of contaminated free fish is desirable to ensure safe consumption and a healthy consumer public`. The  objective of the study is to provide baseline information on the microbial quality of Otuocha river, hence establish the microbial quality of fish caught in Otuocha river. Five fish species (Aruis gigas, Bagrus bayad, Schilbe mystus, Chrysichthys nigroditatus and Protopterus annectens) and water sample were taken from Otuocha fish landing site and river respectively and transported to laboratory. The fish samples were cleaned with sterile distilled water and 1 g of skin, gills, intestine cut aseptically and labelled along with water sample before microbial analysis following standard method. The result obtained in water and fish samples showed high microbial load in Otuocha river and was attributed to anthropogenic sources. Nine different bacteria were isolated in fish samples while seven were isolated in water sample. The study concluded that Otuocha river has high microbial load, hence recommend that fish from Otuocha river should be properly cooked/smoked before consumption and sanitary standard of Otuocha river and its environs be improved while public enlightenment on waste disposal be undertaken. Key words: Microbial load, fish, water, Otuocha River

No abstract

A 3-factor -factorial experiment (2K) was designed to produce fish feeds from mixture of pigeon pea, bambara groundnut and fish meal as major ingredients, while maize, red palm oil, salt and micro nutrient pre-mix were added as minor ingredients. The raw materials were processed into flours. The ingredients were weighed out in various ratios and mixed. The mixture was extruded; sun-dried and packaged and labeled F1-F8 and a commercial feed labeled F9 served as control. The feeds were feed to juvenile Clariasgariepinus kept in 9 separate plastic bowels and fed for 42 days. The forty-five fish of uniform weight and age were grouped into 9 and stocked in the nine artificial ponds, each pond contained five fish. The feeds were analyzed for proximate composition, while the growth performance of the fish was evaluated at the end of the feeding period. Result showed that F3 (20g pigeon pea, 20g Bambara ground nut and 16g fish meal) contains the highest protein (33.14 %) and F1(20g pigeon pea, 30g bambara ground nut and 16g fish meal) the least (23.13 %). F3 exhibited the highest specific growth rate (1.14 %) followed by the F9 (control) which contains 1.09%. The highest weight gain (16 g) was observed in the fish fed the control feed. However, F3 and F4 (20g pigeon pea, 30g bambara ground nut and 18g fish meal) ranked next to the control with respect to growth performance. It is therefore possible to produce quality catfish feed from bend of pigeon pea, Bambara ground nut and fish meal. Keywords: catfish, fish feed, bambara groundnut, pigeon pea, fish meal