3.3. Carcass and body indices
The proportion of fish fillet ranged from 36.2 to 39.5% (wet weight
basis) and did not differ between the reference diet and the test diets
(Table 5). The chemical composition of fillet, kidney and liver did not
differ between the reference diet and the test diets (P>0.05). The
highest CP content was found in fish fillet (160–193 g kg−1),
followed in descending order by liver (131–147 g kg−1) and kidney
(111–127 g kg−1). The highest lipid content was found in liver
(93–207 g kg−1) and the lowest in kidney (range 13–33 g kg−1)
(Pb0.05). There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in ash
content between fillet, kidney and liver.
The viscera-somatic (VSI%) and hepato-somatic (HSI%) indices
differed between treatments, with the highest VSI% (P=0.02) for the
golden apple snail meal, shrimp headmeal and soybeanmeal diets, and
the highest HIS% (P=0.03) for these three diets plus the groundnut
cake diet. The highest intra-peritoneal fat index (IPF%)was recorded for
the golden apple snailmeal diet, followed by the shrimp headmeal and
soybeanmeal diets (Pb0.001). The kidney index ranged from0.4 to 0.7
and did not differ (P=0.07) between treatments (Table 5).