Moringa oleifera (Lam) as a Protein Supplement in Clarias gariepinus Diet

Abstract

This experiment was carried out to investigate chemical properties of Moringa oleifera and the effects of dietary levels of Moringa oleifera leaves on the growth performance and feed utilization for Clarias gariepinus fry. The study was carried out in aquarium tanks, for a period of 8 weeks, in the months of April-May, 2013, at the Aquaculture Centre of the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. Biochemical  analyses  of samples  were  performed, at  the  Animal  Science  and  Central  Science  Laboratories  of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. The trial diets were fed to triplicate groups (n=30) of C. gariepinus fry (average weight of 2.0g ±0.1). Fish samples were collected and individual weight and length were measured, biweekly. The MWG, FWG and  FCR  of  the  fish fed  diets  M0,  M5,  M10 were  not significantly  different  (P>0.05)  from  one  another,  while  these  were  significantly  different (P=.05) from the performance of the fish fed M20 and M30 diets. The DWG and SGR of the Moringa meal-based diets were not significantly different (p>0.05) from any of the dietary treatments. The results indicate that Moringa oleifera leaf meal can be  used  to  replace  up  to  10%  of  the  fish  meal  in  C.  gariepinus fry diet,  without adverse  effects  on  survival  and  growth performance. Whereas, the higher replacing levels in diets significantly (p<0.05) reduced the growth and feed utilization parameters.