Ebtehal EL-Sayed M. Hussein

Poultry production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Minufiya University, Shebin El-Kom, P.O. 32516, Egypt
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2017, Vol. 7, No. 1   doi: 10.5376/ija.2017.07.0001
Received: 14 Nov., 2016    Accepted: 20 Dec., 2016    Published: 09 Jan., 2017

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.

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: 10.5376/ija.2017.07.0001)

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.

Nile tilapia; Moringa; Feed additive; Growth performance