INCORPORATION OF ALFALFA”MEDICAGO SATIVA” MEAL DIFFERENT LEVELS IN NILE TILAPIA (OREOCHROMIS NILOTCUS) DIET: GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND UTILIZATION

Abstract

This study was conducted at the fish hatcheries at Department of Fisheries Science and Wildlife, College of Animal Production Science and Technology, Sudan University of Science and Technology, From April to July 2016 for 8 weeks . The main objective of this study were evaluate the effects of different alfalfa levels of partial supplementation on growth performance of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and body proximate composition of fish. randomly captured fish (divided into four replicates of 30 fish in each). The fish were kept in plastic tank (34*22*18 ) cm containing dechlorinated and well –aerated –tap water and fitted with waste filtration facility, Compressed air was used maintain the oxygen supply. Fish were fed a mixture of the all tested experimental diets in order to habituate them to locally formulated feed after acclimatization, regular four isoenitrogeous and isoenergetic diets containing different levels of alfalfa(medicago satvia ) meal (0 %,5% ,10% and 15 %). The formulated diet containing Control (0%), T1 (alfalfa 5%), T2 (alfalfa 10%), and T3 (alfalfa 15%).The growth performance samples were analyzed using Statistical Programme for Social Science (SPSS, 16) and the Analysis of variance one way (ANOVA) and least significant difference (LSD) were used for means separation at (P < 0.05). The results showed that there were significant differences (P>0.05) in the WG, SGR, FCR, PI and PER of the studied fish samples between all treatments. In case of proximate composition the results revealed that significant differences (P<0.05) were found in the parameters measured between different treatments.