POTENTIAL OF LOOSE PALM OIL AS AN ALTERNATIVE FEED TO INCREASE THE GROWTH OF CATFISH (Clarias batrachus)

Abstract

Aquaculture activities generally use commercial feed to fullfill the nutritional needs of fish. The use of commercial feed can increase production costs, because they still use imported raw materials. To reduce production costs, can use alternative feed by utilizing local materials. Palm oil is one of the abundant local raw materials in Indonesia and produce underutilized waste such as loose palm oil. This study aims to determine the effect of using loose palm oil as an alternative feed on catfish. This study consisted of three treatments (control, soft loose palm oil, and wormy loose palm oil) of three repeats each. Feeding catfish with ad satiation for 28 days. Parameters observed include survival rate, absolute weight growth, absolute length growth, and spesific growth rate. The results showed that the best treatment was the use of wormy loose palm oil feed with a survival rate of 100%, absolute weight growth of 44,23 g, absolute length growth of 6,20 cm, and spesific growth rate of 10,22%.