GROWTH RESPONSE OF NILE TILAPIA FINGERLINGS (OREOCHROMIS NILOTICUS) FED DIETS CONTAINING DIFFERENT LEVELS OF CLOVE OIL

A 16 week feeding experiment was conducted in fiberglass tanks with Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings of average weight ( 23.2 + 0.1 g ) to examine the effect of supplemental clove oil in prepared diet on its growth . Four isonitrogenous (343+ 0.6 % crude protein) and isocaloric ( 4720 + 91 Kcal/kg gross energy ) diets were formulated according to a high quality commercial tilapia diet, containing 10 % fish meal, 20 % meat meal and 24 % soybean meal. Diets B, C, D was supplemented with various percentage of clove oil (4, 8, 12) mg/100 g diets respectively- After 16 weeks, the results showed that individual fish weight, length , feed conversion ratio , feed efficiency ratio , protein effeciency ratio and feed intake were significantly different ( p< 0.01 ) among treatments and diet (C) showed high value with clove oil supplemented with 8mg/100g diet . Fish flesh composition was also significantly different (pO.OJ) and fish fed on diet (C) had high value of protein and fat content* This suggests that clove oil appears to meat criteria used as antioxidant and stimulant for fish growth.