Thesis defence by Aboubacar Sourabie

Valorisation des sous-produits agro-industriels du Burkina Faso dans l'alimentation du poisson-chat africain Clarias gariepinus et impacts sur la nutrition protéique et lipidique

The thesis aimed at developing sustainable solutions for the production of the African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) in Burkina Faso by investigating quality and easily accessible food alternatives.
The major problem in fish farming in Burkina Faso is the access to appropriate ingredients such as fish meal and fish oil due to their high costs. Thus, this study searched for basic food ingredients that could be obtained as by-products from the local agro-industry, and that, at the same time, would satisfy the nutritional needs of African catfish.
During feeding experiments, fish oil was replaced by different vegetable oils (date palm, cotton, palm oil, shea butter) while three alternative flours (peanut, sesame, moringa leaves) were used instead of fish meal. Results showed that date palm oil and by-products containing sesame flour could serve as excellent alternatives (partially and entirely) to rear African catfish, with regards to its growth and biochemical composition.

More information in French.

Aboubacar will present the results of his PhD thesis, conducted in the Research Unit of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology (URBE) under the supervision of Patrick Kestemont. (The presentation will be in French)