Nutritive Value of Dried Rumen Digesta as Replacement for Soybean in Diets of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Fingerlings

Abstract

An eight (8) weeks experiment was carried out to determine the nutritive potential of dried rumen digesta as replacement for soybean meal in diets of Nile Tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. One hundred and fifty Nile Tilapia fingerlings were assigned to five different diets such that Dried Rumen Digesta (DRD) replaced soybean meal at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% represented by T₁, T₂, T₃, T₄ and T₅ respectively in a completely randomized design. Result showed that all fish fed DRD based diets performed better than the control group. There was significant difference (p<0.05) in weight gain among the control groups and those fed DRD based diets. Evaluation on feed intake and feed conversion ratio showed significant difference among the control and DRD groups (p<0.05). This study revealed that DRD at 40% dietary inclusion could replace soybean in the diet of Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings without compromising growth. The trial lasted for eight (8) weeks.