European Journal of Scientific Research - EuroJournals

790 F.R. Falayi, A.S. Ogunlowo and M.O. Alatise
of four concrete ponds on which three wooden battery cages were mounted except the fourth pond
which served as the control. The ponds were stocked with twenty (20) juvenile clarias garipinus each.
Fish in pond 1, 2 and 3 were fed with droppings from one broiler, two broilers and three broilers
respectively. While fish in ponds 4 were fed with the fish concentrate as shown in table 1.
A total of 6 birds (4 weeks old) and 80 juvenile clarias garipinus were used. This experiment
lasted for 6 months. During this period, the environmental parameters were monitored and the effect of
poultry waste on the fish development was noticed. Data collected were subjected to appropriate
statistical analysis.
2.1. Measurements
Bird’s development was determined by measuring the feed consumed and the weight gained on weekly
basis. Grower’s mash was used to feed the broiler chickens throughout the period of the experiment
while fish weight and numbers of fish in the ponds were measured every two weeks. Fish were
harvested at the end of sixth month and the weight and number of fish harvested were also recorded.
2.2. Integrated Poultry Housing Husbandry Description
The pond was designed mainly to give an enabling aquacultural environment for catfish. The pond was
made of hollow block of 150mm (6 inches). The pond was constructed on simple strip concrete
foundation and was divided into three cells of 1m each for different treatments. The wall was
adequately plastered with appropriate mixture of cement, sand and water and adequate precaution
against under cuts by water. One important characteristic of a modern fishpond is that it must be
drainable; this means that it should be possible to empty the pond down to the last drop of water hence
the floor of the pond was constructed at a slope of 0.2 for proper drainage.The ponds were supplied
with well water and drained through gate valves of 37mm (1 ½ inches).
The poultry-housing unit was designed to give appropriate ventilation system for good
performance of the birds. The floor dimension was 4.50m by 2.54m and total height of the building
was 3.14m. The poultry-housing unit was constructed using timber and steel, which are readily
available materials with good strength and minimum cost. The roof was made of galvanized corrugated
roofing sheet. The cage was constructed using wood and wire mesh for the cage floor. The height of
the cage was 0.47m, length of 0.5m and width of 0.4m. The complete housing unit is as shown in plate
1
Table 1: Feeding Table for Catfish Grow-out
Average weight (grams) Feeding level (%body weight) Pellet size (mm)
5-10 5.5-6.0 2.0
10-25 4.5-5.5 2.0
25-70 4.0-4.5 3.0
100-250 3.0-4.0 4.5
500-750 1.5-2.0 4.5
750-1000 1.1-1.5 4.5 or 6.0
1000-1250 0.9-1.1 4.5 or 6.0
1250-1500 0.8-1.0 4.5 or 6.0
1500-2000 0.7-0.9 4.5 or 6.0