International Journal of Aquaculture, 2017, Vol.7, No.1, 1
-
8
1
Research Article Open Access
Effect of Moringa Leaves Meal
as a Feed Additive on the Performance of Nile
Tilapia,
Oreochromis niloticus
Ebtehal EL-Sayed M. Hussein
Poultry production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Minufiya University, Shebin El-Kom, P.O. 32516, Egypt
Corresponding author Email
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2017, Vol. 7, No.1 doi
Received: 14 Nov., 2016
Accepted: 20 Dec., 2016
Published: 9 Jan., 2017
Copyright © 2016
Hussein, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Hussein E.E.S.M., 2016, Effect of moringa leaves meal
as a feed additive on the performance of Nile tilapia,
Oreochromis niloticus
, International Journal of
Aquaculture, 7(1): 1-8 (doi
Abstract
A twelve- week feeding study was conducted to define the influence of adding different levels moringa leaves powder 0,
2, 4 or 6 g kg
-1
to the basal diet on Nile tilapia fingerlings performance. Fish were distributed randomly at a rate of 15 fish each in 12
aquaria with average 2.1 ±0.1 g initial weight. Each diet was provided to fish in triplicate at a level of 5% of biomass. The growth
performance did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) among all treatments. There were significant differences in protein, lipid and ash
content (P < 0.05). A reduction was observed in the lipid values with increasing the level of moringa leaves meal in the experimental
diets. The inclusion of moringa leaves meal reduced the glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood plasma content
significantly. No specific neurotic changes were observed in the liver, intestine or ovary of tested Nile tilapia fed the experimental
diets. It was concluded that moringa leaves meal can be added to the diets for Nile tilapia without any antagonistic properties.
Keywords
Nile tilapia; Moringa; Feed additive; Growth performance
Introduction
Increasing the global aquaculture depends on fish meal protein which related with increasing the production of
aqua feeds (Naylor et al., 2009). Tilapia considered the greatest species for culture because of their high tolerance
to adverse environmental conditions, their fast growth and they could be stocked easily (El-Sayed, 1999). The
increasing request of fish meal and diminishing fish capture have resulted in increasing the price of fish meal.
Thus, it is essential to determine the evaluability of different protein sources as cheaper substitutes to replace fish
meal and/or expensive plant protein concentrates as a dietary protein source in aquafeeds (Takeuchi et al., 2002).
Moringa oleifera
is a natural developing plant used for several industrial and medicinal purposes offered in tropics
and subtropics, especially the moringa leaves. Depending on some reports of the health benefits of moringa as
natural plant, there are confounding foundations of “beneficial” food stimulating moringa as a medicine
(Yuangsoi and Masumoto, 2012).
Moringa oleifera
hold attention as protein source to use in fish diets at low levels (Chiseva, 2006) because it is
natural and cheap. Valuable effects of bioactive plant constituents in animal nutrition may include the inspiration of
appetite, feed consumed, the development of endogenous digestive enzyme excretion, stimulation of immune
responses and antibacterial, antiviral and antioxidant actions (Citarasu, 2010). So, the further study was carried out
to determine the influence of moringa leaves as feed additive in the formulated diets for Nile tilapia on the growth
performance, body composition and the histology examination. Much more, this study states possibilities of using
plant leaves as growth promoters to the fishes in future at farm.
1 Materials and Methods
The study was directed at the fish farming in Faculty of Agriculture, poultry production department, Minufiya
University, Egypt during the period from May to August 2015.
1.1 The formulated diets
The composition of basal diet formulated of 25% crude protein and gross energy 17 kcal/g dry matter. All
