This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of substituting toasted soybean meal with fermented chia seed meal in the diets of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings. Five iso-nitrogenous diets were formulated at 40% crude protein using Pearson’s square method. Chia seed meal (CSM) was used to replace toasted soybean meal progressively at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% respectively. A total number of one hundred and fifty fingerlings of C. gariepinus were procured. The fish were allowed to acclimatize for a week. A complete randomized design (CRD) was adopted. Ten fish were randomly assigned to a 1m Hapa net, a total of 15 Hapa nets were used in an outdoor earthen lined pond of 10×7m2 with a depth of 1.5m, and the five formulated diets were fed to the experimental fish at 5% body weight twice daily and the pond water was monitored. The experiment lasted for 8 weeks. Highest value of mean weight gain of 73.88g was recorded in the fish fed 75% level of inclusion followed by 69.22g in the fish fed 25% inclusion which were significantly different (P≤0.05), the least mean weight gain of 46.66g was recorded in the fish fed 50% inclusion level. The highest of feed conversion ratio was recorded in the 50% inclusion level with a value of 0.83 while the least (0.75) was recorded in the diet with 25%, 75% and 100% inclusion level. This study revealed that toasted soybean meal can be substituted with chia seed meal up to 75% inclusion level in C. gariepinus diets without any negative effects on the growth and nutrient utilization.
Keywords: African Catfish; Chia Seed; Fermentation; Growth Performance; Soybean Meal.
Citation: Abdullahi, A. I. et al., (2026). Substitution of Soya Bean (Glycine max) With Chia Seed (Salvia hispanica) Meals in the Diets of African Catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822). J N food sci tech, 7(2):1-4. DOI : https://doi.org/10.47485/2834-7854.1059