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Abstract

Three hundred and eighty (380) juvenile fish (Clarias garipienus) were used to examine the effect of nutmeg (Myristica Fragrans) on weight gain and carcass evaluation of juvenile catfish. The catfish were allocated into six (6) treatments with three (3) replicate each containing twenty (20) catfishes. Treatment A contained 0% of nutmeg while treatment B contained 0.5% of nutmeg, treatment C contained 1% of nutmeg, treatment D contained 1.5% of nutmeg, also, treatment E contained 2.0% of nutmeg and treatment F contained 2.5% of nutmeg inclusions. The feeding trial lasted for eight (8) weeks. Parameters measured include weight gain, feed intake and mortality rate. The result showed that there were significant differences (P<0.05) in weight gain with the catfish on treatment F having the highest value (5.2 g), followed by treatment E (4.6 g) while treatment D (3.8 g) and treatment C (3.8 g) while treatment B (3.4 g) and treatment A (2.9 g). There was significant difference (P<0.05) in the feed intake with the catfish on treatment F having the highest feed intake (6.9 g) compared to treatment A (control) which had the least feed intake (5.5 g). Therefore, it can be concluded that nutmeg at 2.5% inclusion in the diet of juvenile fish improved the weight gain of the fish and also reduced the mortality rate.