Potential of Safmannan as a feed additive for juvenile African catfish (Clarias gariepinus): Growth, feed utilization efficiency, serum lysozyme activity, and total viable bacterial count in the gut

ABSTRACT

A 45-day feeding trial was conducted to study the effects of Safmannan as a feed additive for African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fingerlings. A total of 270 catfish fingerlings were randomly distributed into nine experimental aquaria. Three complete diets were used in this study: Diet 1, a premium catfish feed in the market (feed type A); commercial catfish feed (feed type B) containing no added Safmannan (Diet 2), and 800 ppm of Safmannan (Diet 3). The results showed that fish growth was not significantly (P > 0.05) affected by diets. The feed conversion ratio of catfish fed with Diet 1 was not significantly different (P > 0.05) from catfish fed with Diet 3, reflecting the competitiveness of Safmannan-supplemented feed to the control feed. Interestingly, Safmannan supplementation significantly lowered (P > 0.05) the colony forming unit count and increased serum lysozyme activity. In conclusion, Safmannan could be used as an immunostimulant for catfish farming.

KEYWORDS:

• Mannan-oligosaccharide
• immunostimulant
• intestinal CFU count
• catfish farming

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).