Nutritive value and utilization of Baobab (Adansonia digitata) seed meal as plant protein source in the diet of juveniles of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) (Pisces: Clariidae)
Abstract
This paper aimed at evaluating the potentials of boiled Baobab (Adansonia digitata) seed meal as plant protein source in the diet of juveniles of Clarias gariepinus. A sixty-day feeding trial was conducted in 40L plastic aquaria tanks. Boiled baobab seeds meals were incorporated in diets at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% designated as diets D1 (Control), D2, D3, D4 and D5 respectively. All diets were iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric. Juvenile Clarias gariepinus with initial mean weight 101.24±34g were fed ad lib on allotted diets twice per day for 60 days. Mean body weight gain in fish fed on D1 was highest with a value 901.22g and lowest in Diet 5 with a value of 250.39g. The mean daily weight gain in fish was highest in Diet 1 with a value of 15.4% and lowest in Diet 5 with a value of 4.17%. Specific Growth rate (SGR) of experimental fish was highest with a value of 3.62% in Diet 1 and lowest in Diet 5 with a value of 2.09%. Proximate composition of fish fillets fed on test diets show that the protein level in diet 21.88±0.11% in Diet 3 and 21.00±1.00% in D4 were significantly higher than the other diets while the crude fiber was highest in Diet 4 with a value of 2.90±0.17% and lowest in Diet 3 with a value of 1.93±0.12%. This study shows that up to 25% of boiled baobab seeds can be incorporated into the diets of juvenile C. gariepinus without any negative effects on growth of fish.
References
Aduku AO. 1993. Tropical feedstuff analysis table. Department of Animal science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
AOAC. 1995. Official Methods of analysis of the association of official analytical chemists. In: P. Cunniff (Ed.), International, VA. Vol. II Chapter 49, Arlington, Virginia, United States. 1-49.
Ayinla OA. 2003. Integrated fish farming: A veritable tool for poverty alleviation/Hunger eradication in the Niger Delta Region. In, Eyo A. A and Atanda, J. O (eds.). Conference Proceedings of Fisheries Society of Nigeria, Owerri, Nigeria. 40-41
De-Silva SS and Gunasekera RM. 1989. Effect of dietary protein level and amount of plant ingredient (Phaseofas attreus) incorporated into the diets on growth performance and carcass composition in Oreochromis aureus fry. Aquaculture (80):123-133.
Ezeagu IE 2005. Baobab (Adansonia digitata l.) seed protein utilization in young albino rats I: Biochemical Ingredients and performance characteristics. Animal Research International 2(1):240-245.
Ezenwaji HMG. 1985. African Clarias Taxonomy implication for field work processing of the 4th annual conference of the Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON) Held at Port Harcourt 26th -29th Nov. 1985. 191-195.
Gnaiger E and Bitterlich G. 1984. Proximate biochemical composition and caloric content calculated from elemental CHN analysis: a stoichiometric concept. Oecologia (Berlin) 62,289-298.
Gomes EF, Rema P and Kaushik SJ. 1995. Replacement of fish meal by plant proteins in the diet of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): digestibility and growth performance. Aquaculture 130(2-3):177-186.
Hughes SG. 1991. Use of lopin flour as a replacement for full–fat soy in diets for rainbow trout. Aquaculture 93:57-62.
Luquet P. 1991. Tilapia (Oreochromis Spp) in R.P Wilson (ed). CRC handbook of fin fish. CRC Press, Inc. Florida. 161-179.
Nkafamiya II, Aliyu BA, Manji AJ and Modibbo UU. 2007. Degradation properties of wild Adansonia digitata (Baobab) and Prosopsis africana (Lughu) oils on storage. African Journal of Biotechnology 6(6):751-755.
Olvera NMA, Martinez PCA, Galvan CR and Chavez SC. 1988. The use of the leguminous plant sesbania grand flora as a partial replacement for fish meal in diets for tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). Aquaculture (71):51-60.
Solomon SG, Tiamiyu LO, Agaba UJ. 2007. Effect of feeding different grain sources on the growth performance and body composition of Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings fed in outdoor hapas. Pakistan J. Nutr., 6(3):271-275.
Viola S, Arielity S and Zohar G. 1988. Unusual feedstuff (tapioca and lopin) as ingredients for carp and tilapia feed in intensive culture, Bamidgeh, 40:29-34.
Zaid AA and Sogbesan OA. 2010. Evaluation and potential of cocoyam as carbohydrate source in catfish, (C. gariepinus [Burchell, 1822]) juvenile diet. African Journal of Agricultural Research 5(6):453-457.
