Evaluation of Various Combinations of Alternative Protein Feedstuffs to Replace Soybean Meal in Diets for Pond‐Raised Channel Catfish

A study was conducted in earthen ponds to evaluate the use of combinations of two or three alternative protein sources to replace soybean meal in diets for Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus. Six 28% protein diets containing various combinations of alternative protein feedstuffs—cottonseed meal, corn distillers dried grains with solubles, corn germ meal, peanut meal, and porcine meat and bone meal—were evaluated. Channel Catfish stockers (mean initial weight = 87 g/fish) were stocked into 30 earthen ponds (0.04 ha) at a density of 14,826 fish/ha with five ponds per dietary treatment. They were fed once a day to apparent satiation for a 183‐d growing season. There were no significant differences in total diet fed, net yield, weight gain, survival, processing yield, and fillet proximate composition among dietary treatments. Results from the present study show that all soybean meal could be replaced by two or three moderate‐ and high‐protein alternative feedstuffs without significantly affecting growth performance, processing yield, and fillet proximate composition of pond‐raised Channel Catfish during food fish grow out.