Animal by-products good as ‘lapu-lapu’ feedstuff

Animal by-products from slaughterhouses are effective feed ingredients for the culture of grouper (lapu-lapu), one of the country’s most delicious and expensive fish species.

This was found in a study done by Dr. Oseni Millamena, researcher of the government-hosted Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC AQD) in Tigbauan, Iloilo.

Dr. Millamena noted that the combination of meat meal and blood meal (4:1) can effectively replace fish meal up to 80 percent with no adverse effects on growth, survival, and feed conversion ratio of grouper juveniles.

The grouper juveniles readily accepted the diets with animal by-products meals. Growth rates were similar to those fed with fish meal diet.

Being carnivorous, groupers are traditionally fed with trash fish or feeds containing fish meal as the main ingredient (up to 50 percent of the diet). However, fish meal has become more expensive.

"The replacement of fish meal as protein source in commercial aquaculture feeds by an alternative cheap protein source is a practical way of reducing feed cost," SEAFDEC AQD averred. – Rudy A. Fernandez