SUMMARY
Ikan lele (Clarias gariepinus) merupakan salah satu komoditas budidaya air tawar yang populer di Indonesia. Berbagai upaya dilakukan untuk meningkatkan produktivitas ikan lele di antaranya melalui perbaikan kualitas genetik. Upaya peningkatan kualitas genetik ikan lele untuk mempercepat pertumbuhan dilakukan melalui proses seleksi. Pengujian performa ikan lele hasil seleksi (strain Mutiara) pada skala komersial dilakukan dengan membandingkannya dengan strain non-seleksi (strain Paiton). Tujuan dari penelitian ini yaitu untuk membandingkan produktivitas dan profitabilitas budidaya ikan lele hasil seleksi dan non-seleksi yang dibesarkan di kolam tanah pada skala komersial. Ikan lele ukuran sekitar 2,5 g dipelihara di kolam tanah berukuran 50 m2 dengan kepadatan 200 ekor/m2. Pemeliharaan dilakukan sampai ikan mencapai ukuran panen (sekitar 100 g). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ikan hasil seleksi memiliki laju pertumbuhan spesifik lebih tinggi (5,75 ± 1,25 g/hari), konversi pakan lebih rendah (0,90 ± 0,08), dan periode pemeliharaan lebih singkat (68 ± 13 hari) dibandingkan ikan non-seleksi (4,33 ± 0,70 g/hari; 1,09 ± 0,01; 90 ± 12 hari). Berdasarkan analisis bioekonomi, budidaya pembesaran ikan lele hasil seleksi mampu menekan biaya produksi hingga Rp2.365,00/kg dan mendatangkan rasio keuntungan (61,09 ± 5,17%) hampir dua kali lipat lebih tinggi dibandingkan non-seleksi (32,54 ± 4,12%).African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is one of the freshwater aquaculture commodity that are popular in Indonesia. Various attempts had been conducted to increase its productivity including through genetic quality improvement. Efforts to improve the genetic quality of African catfish on growth trait was conducted by selection method. Evaluation the performance of improved strain of African catfish (Mutiara strain) on a commercial scale was done by comparing with local (non-improved) strain (Paiton strain). The purpose of this study was to compare the productivity and profitability of farming of improved strain and local strain of African catfish that were cultured in earthen ponds on commercial scale. African catfish with the size of about 2.5 g, were cultured in earthen pond measuring 50 m2 with a density of 200 fish/m2. Culture period was carried out until the fish reach harvest size (about 100 g). The results showed that improved strain showed a higher specific growth rate (5.75 ± 1.25 g/day), lower feed conversion ratio (0.90 ± 0.08), and shorter rearing period (68 ± 13 days) when compared to local strain (4.33 ± 0.70 g/day; 1.09 ± 0.01; 90 ± 12 days). Based on bioeconomy analysis, farming of improved strain reduced the production cost about 2,365 IDR/kg and achieved almost doubled benefit ratio (61.09 ± 5.17%) than local strain (32.54 ± 4.12%).