The high cost of fish feed has necessitated continuous efforts to seek alternative ingredients that could substitute or replace the major fish feed ingredients in high demand by man. This study evaluated the potential of raw and fermented wild grape (Ampelocissus africana) as a replacement for maize in fish diets. Ampelocissus africana leaves were collected in Dutsin-ma town, dried, ground and fermented with and without commercial dry yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) with a cell density of 3 x 106 cell g-1 where sub-samples were taken for proximate, phytochemical and amino acid analysis. Five diets (T1-T5) were formulated as control (T1) 24 hours Grapes fermented with yeast (24GFY as T2), 48 hours grapes fermented with yeast (48GFY as T3), 48 hours Grapes fermented with no yeast ((48GFNY as T4) and Raw grapes (GRW as T5). Three Hundred (300) fingerlings of Clarias gariepinus with an initial mean weight of 15±2.31g were obtained and fed the experimental diets twice daily at 5 % body weight for eight weeks in a complete randomized design (CRD). Fish sampling was carried out weekly for the eight weeks and the weight was used to compute performance indices. The differences among the means for each of the indices were analyzed using one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at p = 0.05 and further analyzed using Duncan’s multiple range test (DMRT) to determine the specific means that were different. The liver was taken for histopathological examinations using standard methods.. The highest percentage weight gain 65.13±10.79% was observed in the control and it was different significantly (P<0.05) from 24GFY and GRW but not significantly different from 48GFY and 48GFNY. The food conversion ratio followed the same pattern with the least in the control followed by 48GFY and 48GFNY and they were all different from 24 GFY and GRW. The hepatosomatic index and viscerosomatic index were not different significantly among the treatments. Histological examination of the liver also showed the least energy deposit in the 24 GFY and GRW. The results revealed that although the control with maize had superior performance, among the different inclusions of processed wild grape, fish fed diet with 48 hours fermented wild grape performed best. It is therefore recommended that different inclusion levels of wild grape fermented for 48 hours should be experimented in order to optimize its inclusion in fish diets.
Keywords: Ampelocissus africana, body indices, Clarias gariepinus, hepatosomatic index, viscerosomatic index