Effect of Replacing Fishmeal with Soybean Meal on Growth, Feed Conversion and Carcass Composition of Fingerling Oreochromis niloticus (Nile Tilapia)

Abstract

A feeding trial was conducted to replace the Fish Meal (FM) protein by Soybean Meal (SBM) protein in the feeds for fingerling Oreochromis niloticus (0.57±0.05g; 3.54±0.18 cm) Six practical diets (35% crude protein; 16.28 kJ g-1 gross energy) replacing 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% fish meal protein by soybean meal protein were prepared. The diets were fed to triplicate groups of fish near to satiation for 6 weeks. The live weight gain (LWG, 308.77-608.77%), protein retention efficiency (4.03-25.74%), specific growth rate (1.75-4.11%/day), feed conversion ratio (1.54-3.47), and protein efficiency ratio (0.82-1.86), in fish fed diets with 0, 20 and 40% replacement of fish meal with SBM did not show any significant differences. However, further replacement of fish meal by soybean meal beyond 40% resulted in significant fall in above parameters indicating that fish meal could be replace by soybean meal up to 40%, which would be useful in formulating cost-effective commercial feeds for the intensive culture of this fish.