Formulation of Fish Feed with Optimum Protein-bound Lysine for African Catfish (Clarias Gariepinus) Fingerlings

Earthworm powder is a potential source of lysine, a first limiting amino acid which is essential in fish diet. The incorporation of other feed ingredients with acceptable composition of lysine can help to enhance lysine content in fish feeds. The focus of this study is to optimize lysine content in fish feeds with difference percentages of each selected feeds ingredients. The optimization study was conducted using central composite design (CCD) as statistical tool. The optimum lysine content was obtained at 25.00%, 20.88%, 10.00% and 20.00% of earthworm powder, soybean waste, leucaena leucocephala leaves and fish meal, respectively. The lysine content in formulated fish feeds was significantly affected by the composition of earthworm powder and fish meal in fish feed formulation. Earthworm powder and fish meal have contributed the largest portion of lysine in fish feed due to high lysine content which were 4.48% w/w and 3.60% w/w, respectively. The optimized fish feed shows high lysine content of 23.39% w/w which doubles the lysine content in commercial fish feed (11.21% w/w). The composition of fish feed obtained from this study can be used as guidelines for formulation of high lysine fish feeds for African catfish fingerlings.