Replacing Fishmeal with Kikuyu Grass and Moringa Leaves: Effects on Growth, Protein Digestibility, Histological and Haematological Parameters in Clarias gariepinus

Özet

The effects of replacing fishmeal (FM) with kikuyu meal (KM) and moringa meal (MM) in Clarias gariep inus diets were investigated. Nine diets (30% CP: 20 MJ kg-1) were formulated by replacing FM with KM and MM at 0% (control), 25, 50, 75 and 100%. Each diet was randomly assigned to triplicate groups of C. gariep inus (30.5±2 g) for 60 days. Significantly higher (P<0.05) growth performance, feed and protein utilisation was observed in C. gariep inus fed KM diets compared to those fed MM. No histological alterations were found in liver of fish fed the control diet. Increased hepatocyte degradation was seen in fish fed higher levels of moringa in the diet. The enterocytes showed a significant increase in the number of goblet cells with increasing levels of MM. Villi height decreased significantly (P<0.05) when MM replaced >75 fishmeal. Higher levels of anti-nutrients in MM may be the cause of the adverse effects in growth, histology and haematological parameters of fish fed moringa based diets. The results of this study indicate that KM can replace up to 25% FM and that adding MM resulted in reduced performance. Higher profit index and lower incidence cost was observed KM diets than in MM diets.