EFFECT OF STOCKING DENSITY AND DIET ON THE PERFORMANCE OF JIPE TILAPIA (OREOCHROMIS JIPE) CULTURED IN HAPAS AT SAGANA, KENYA

The 84 days experiment was conducted at Sagana Aquaculture Centre, Kirinyaga County, to determine the effect of stocking density and diet on the performance of Jipe tilapia (O. jipe) reared in hapas in an earthen pond. It involved a 3x2 factorial design (3 diets x 2 stocking densities) in 18 (1m x1m) hapas mounted in a 800 m2 earthen pond. The stocking densities were 30 fish/m2 and 45 fish/m2 combined with 30% CP of both formulated feed (Diet 1) and Ranaan commercial feed (Diet 2) and 35% CP for Sigma commercial feed (Diet 3). Feeding was maintained at 10% of body weight (BW) in every 14 days of growth. The effects of stocking density and diet were compared on the basis of mean weight and length, weight gain percent, specific growth rate, survival, feed conversion ratio and average water quality parameters and the means of the variables were analyzed using two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at P<0.05 to test the effects of the two factors (stocking density and diet) on the various aspects of Jipe tilapia growth and survival. Mean separation from ANOVA test was done using Tukey?s HSD (Honestly significant difference) at P<0.05 to detail any difference among treatments. The best growth in terms of mean length and weight was achieved in diet 3 irrespective of stocking density. It recorded mean length 7.50a?0.19 cm and mean weight of 6.68a?0.45 g respectively. Survival was highest on fish fed on diet 2 (17.00a?1.57) whereas stocking density had no significant effect P<0.05 on O. jipe survival. There was no significant interaction P<0.05 of the two factors tested on calculated growth performance parameters (mean weight, SGR, percent weight gain, percent survival and FCR) except for mean length, survival and condition factor which were significantly affected. Stocking density and diet had no significant effect at P<0.05 on all the water quality parameters measured. Furthermore, all the water quality parameters were within the recommended ranges for tilapia culture. The results from the present study clearly suggest that O. jipe should be fed on a high CP diet regardless of the stocking density in the culture systems.