{ISSN: 0189 - 8779;

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I JOURNAL

IOF

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I AQUATIC

ISCIENCES

PUBLISHED BY

NIGERIAN ASSOCfATION OF AQUATIC SCIENCES

Vol ume-t-t- -------- April 1999

Journal of Aquatic Sciences 14: 55 - 59 (1999).

EFFECTS OF KIDNEY BEAN, PHASEOLUS VULGARIS MEAL ON THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE,FEED UTILIZA:rION AND PROTEIN DIGESTIBILITY OF THE NILE TILAPIA.

I ABSALOM, K. V. OMOREGIE', E. AND lOBE, A. M.Fisheries Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Jos, Nigeria.

ABSTRACTGrowth, feed utilization and protein digestibility in the fingerlings of the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (meanweight: 1.36 ± 0.05 g) fed diets containing varying levels of the kidney bean, Phaseolus vulgaris were investigatedunder laboratory conditions. The kidney bean was incorporated at separate levels of 60,40,20 and 0% (control).The feeding period lasted for 8 weeks. There was no mortality recorded in all the various treatments, and the fish fedavidly throughout the feeding period. In general, the best growth and feed utilization results were obtained in fishfed the control diet, however, results obtained with the 60% kidney bean diet were satisfactory. Weight gain of thefish fed the control diet was 92.02%, that fed on the 60% kidney bean diet was 71.22%, while that fed on the 20%kidney bean diet had the least weight gain value of 16.67%. Protein digestibility values in the control and 60%kidney bean diets were 85.04% and 81.04% respectively. There was no evidence of excessive fat or carbohydratedeposition in the fish muscle tissues after the feeding period.

Key words: Growth, feed indices, digestibility, Tilapia, kidney bean

INTRODUCTIONTilapia are vigorous eaters and grow fast. They fed

efficiently on natural aquatic foods and can utilize avariety of supplemental feeds. Omoregie andOgbemudia (1993) advised that it will be moreeconomical to utilize plant protein and accept a reducedgrowth rate of aquatic animal than feeding fish meal athigh cost. Artificial feeds used in most tilapia cultureconsist mostly of vegetable by-products with someanimal by-products to increase the protein content ofthe diet as reported by Halver (1972) and Jauncey andRoss (1982).

Feed is the most expensive cost item in semi-intensive and intensive fish culture. Indeed, feed costsalone can account for two-thirds of the variable cost oftilapia culture operation (Jauncey and Ross 1982).Much of the high cost of feeds arises from extensivereliance on protein sources such as fish meal andshrimp meal as reported by Lim et al. (1997). Varioussources of fishrneal are employed in tilapia culture dietsbecause in general, they have high palatability anddigestibility, excellent essential amino acid and fattyacid profiles, and· high levels of available energy.However, fishrneal quality may vary because of rawmaterial spoilage and excessive drying temperatures (>100°C) during processing (Lim, et al., 1997). Also insome regions, the fish meal may contain different ratiosof trash fish, small shrimps and other small aquaticanimals (Penaflorida, 1989 and Clancy et al., 1995).Further, the present global supply of fishrneal (,::;:6million t) will likely remain static or decline becauseworld capture fisheries have reached a plateau (New1991). These trends, together with increased usage offish meal not only for fish culture but also for thehusbandry of livestock and human consumption, willlikely raise future prices of fish meal (Omoregie et al.,1991). Consequently, the. cost of production willcontinue to increase for those .fish species whose diets

continue to be heavily reliant on fishmeal as a principalsource of protein. Clearly less expensive alternativesources of protein need to be identified and developed.

Assessment of the overall potential for using novelsources of protein in animal diets includes supply, costand nutritive value. In relation to supply, the quantity ofthe kidney bean that is potentially available forinclusion in fish diets surpasses the global amount offishmeal and groundnut meal that is produced eachyear. With respect to cost, the kidney bean is far lessexpensive than fishmeal. In term of the nutritive value,the kidney bean was reported by Gohl (1975) to be ofhigh protein content, with favourable amino acidprofile. In this study our main goal was to determineacceptable levels of the kidney bean meal in a practicaldiet for juvenile Nile tilapia.

MA.TERIAL AND METHODSFingerlings of the Nile tilapia (mean weight 1.36 ±

0.05 g) of the same brood stock collected fromRockwater Fish Farm Jos, Nigeria were used for thisresearch. They were transported to the laboratory inwater containers. In the laboratory, the fish wereacclimated for a period of two weeks in plastic tanksprior to the feeding trials. The plastic tanks containeddechlorinated municipal tap water. Quarantinetreatment was carried out using 3 mg.I" potassiwnpermanganate.

During the acclimation period the fish were fed 4%of their body weight divided into two equal feedings.The feeding of the fish was at 0900 and 1700 h. Leftover feeds and faeces were siphoned out daily. Thewater in the plastic tanks was changed every day. Thetemperature of the water during the acclimation periodwas 25.1 ± 0.02°C.

Plastic tanks of 20 I capacity were used for theexperiment. A constant volume of 13 I was maintainedin each tank. There were four experimental tanks with

© Nigerian Association for Aquatic Sciences (ISSN: 0189 - 8779).

56

one replicate each. Fifteen fish of known weight wereput into each of the tanks and labelled accordingly. Theweight of the fish in the different tanks was taken at thebeginning of the experiment and thereafter on a weeklybasis, using a mettle P20110 top-loading balance.During the weighing, faeces for the protein digestibilityanalysis were collected by gently stripping eaeh fishanteroposteriorly around the rectum. The collectedfaecal samples were dried in an oven at 1050C for 24 hand stored in air-tight vials under refrigeration (4°C)for subsequent chromic oxide and protein analyses.After each week, the fish were removed from the tanksand 3ml r1 potassium permanganate used to disinfectthe tanks and then rinsed properly. The feeding triallasted for 8 weeks during which period the fish werefed 4% of their body weight as recommended byDupree and Huner (1984). The percentage compositionof the experimental diets is represented in Table I. Thediets were prepared using methods described by Olveraet al. (1990). Before its incorporation into the variousdiets, the kidney bean was pre-treated as documentedby Igbe (1996). Chromic oxide was incorporated intothe diets as an inert digestibility marker. All diets wereanalysed for moisture, crude protein, lipid, fibre, ashand carbohydrates using standard methods (AOAC,1984) (Table 1).

Specific growth rate (SGR) and food conversionratio (FCR) of the fish were computed usingappropriate formulae given in Efthimiou (1996), whilethe protein efficiency ratio (PER) was computed basedon the formula given in Ufodike and Matty (1988).During the experimental period the water parameters(temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, free carbon-dioxide and alkalinity) of the experimental tanks weredetermined weekly using basic laboratory methods asdescribed by APHA (1985). At the beginning and at theend of the feeding period, a random sample of two fishfrom each tank was taken, sacrificed and analysed forproximate compositions of the muscle tissues usingstandard methods (AOAC, 1984).

Standard errors (SE) of the mean weight of the fishwere calculated from the mean-square for error.Differences between the water quality parameters weredetermined using the student's t-test. All data weresubjected to two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA),and the means were compared using Duncan's multiplerange test to determine their significant differences (P >0.05). The PC software Microsoft Excel® (MicrosoftCorporation, USA) was used for the statistical analyses.

RESULTSThe water quality parameters monitored during the

experimental period were all significantly the same (P< 0.05). The mean values obtained are as follows:dissolved oxygen, 6.03 ± 1.92 mg r', free carbon-dioxide, 0.63 ± 0.14 mg r', alkalinity, 27.90 ± 3.05 mg·1 0 .I ; temperature, 24.70 ± 0.60 C and pH, 6.77 ± 0.17.Results of the proximate compositions of the

experimental diets (Table I) showed that the proteinlevels of diets A, Band C were significantly the same(P < 0.05), while that of the diet D (cont;rol) wassignificantly higher than the others (P > 0.05). Thecarbohydrate and fibre levels were significantly lowestin the control diet (P > 0.05).

There did not appear to be any difference in thefeeding activity of the fish according to the differentdiets. All diets were avidly consumed by the fish. Therewas no mortality of fish recorded during theexperimental period. The results of growth performanceindices and protein digestibility are presented in Table2. Results of percentage weight gain were significantlydifferent (P > 0.05) in the various diets. Highest growth(92.02%) was obtained in the group of fish fed diet D,this was followed by the group fed diet A (71 .22%)The group of fish fed diet C had the least growth(16.67%). The results of the SGR followed the samepattern as that of the percentage weight .gain. The FCRand PER were best (0.83 and 1.12 respectively) in thegroup of fish fed diet D, these were closely followed bythe group of fish fed diet A (1.01 and 0.98respectively). The percentage protein digestibility wassignificantly the same (P < 0.05) in the groups of fishfed diets A and D, these values were higher than in thegroups of fish fed diets B and C. There was nosignificant difference (P < 0.05) in the proximatecompositions of the various groups of fish muscletissues before and after feeding with the experimentaldiets (Table 3).

DISCUSSIONThe water quality parameters monitored were all

within the acceptable tolerant range recommended forfreshwater fish culture (Omoregie et al., 1991). Sincetheir values were significantly the same in the variousexperimental tanks, the incorporation of the kidneybean in the diets did not alter the quality of the water.The difference in growth of the fish reported in thisinvestigation can therefore not be attributed to poorwater quality.

The kidney bean is widely available in the tropics(GohI, 1975). It's ease of cultivation makes harvestingtwice within a year possible. Results from thisinvestigation showed that its inclusion as a replacementfor fish meal and corresponding reduction in moreexpensive maize meal seems to have no deleteriouseffects on the growth, feed utilization and proteindigestibility of the juveniles of the Nile tilapia. Sinceconventional protein sources (fisbmeal and groundnutmeals) are becoming increasingly expensive, alternativesources must be used, making it important to evaluatethe performance of the kidney bean as" potentialingredient in fish diets. Moreso, tilapia feeds consistlargely of vegetable by-products as reported by Halver(1977).

One of the most common difficulties observedwhen alternatively new sources of feedstuffs are used in

Ifish diets is palatability as reported by Rodriguez et

al. (1996). In this investigation, the fish avidlyconsumed the experimental diets, hence kidney beancan be said not to have negative effects on dietpalatability. In terms of survival, the kidney bean canbe successfully incorporated into the diets of thejuveniles of the Nile tilapia, as no mortality wasrecorded during the feeding period.

The nutritional quality of kidney bean asdetermined by growth in the fish was adequate.Although final body weight and growth rate werehigher in fish fed the control diet. However, nodeleterious depression in growth was observed in fishfed diet incorporated with 60% and 24% kidney beanand maize flour respectively. Growth of fish fed 40%and 44% kidney bean and maize flour respectivelywere significantly reduced compared to the control diet.Previous investigations by Dupree and Runer (1984),Watanabe (1988), Omoregie et al. (1991) andOmoregie and Ogbemudia (1993) revealed that fishmeal in fish diets can either partially or completely bereplaced by protein sources of plant origin.

Although' feed utilization indices were best in fishfed the control diet, FCR and PER of fish fed diet Awere also adequate, with FCR value of 1.01 and PERvalue of 0.98. Ufo dike and Matty (1983) reportedsimilar results when appropriate levels of cassava andrice were incorporated in diets fed to the mirror carp,and also by Omoregie et al. (1991) when appropriatelevels of mango seeds and cassava peelings wereincorporated in diets fed to the Nile tilapia. However,very poor FCR and PER values were reported byAppler and Jauncey (1983) and Wee and Wang (1987)when tilapia were fed high levels of plant proteinsources. The difference in the results of these workerswith this present investigation is the poor amino acidprofiles of the major plant protein source used. Applerand Jauncey (1983) used filamentous green algae, whileleucaena leafwas used by Wee and Wang (1987).

Results of protein digestibility from thisinvestigation showed that the fingerlings of the Niletilapia fed appropriate levels of kidney bean in theirdiets had good protein digestibility. The digestibilitywas above 65% in all the experimental diets, with thecontrol diet recording 84.04%. Fish fed diet A recorded81.04%. Low protein digestibility has been reported infish fed high carbohydrate diets (Takeuchi et al., 1990).However, the test diets used by these workers were notisonitrogenous as with the case of this presentinvestigation. Stickney (1979) and Watanabe (1988)noted that nutrient digestibility in fish is a linearrelationship to the increasing levels of dietary proteinconswned. It is however worth mentioning that the Niletiiapia is an herbivorous species as reported byAnthony (1982) hence its ability to efficiently digest theprotein present in the kidney bean.

Results of the proximate compositions of the fishmuscle tissues revealed no evidence of excessive fat or

57

carbohydrate deposition in the fish muscle after thefeeding period. From the foregoing, the Nile tilapia canutilize the kidney bean incorporated into its diet atappropriate levels. This is an indication that it may befeasible to replace more expensive conventionalfeedstuffs with cheaper alternatives in order to reducethe cost of aquaculture production. Further researchesare however still required in determining whetherdifferent proportions of fishmeal and kidney beanwould result in growth performance of the Nile tilapiacomparable with that achieved on fishmeal based diets.

ACKNOWLEGDEMENTThe authors which to express their sincere appreciationto the University of Jos, Nigeria for providing theresearch materials for this investigation. The material inthis manuscript was derived in part from the B.Sc.dissertation of A. M. Igbe (1996) submitted to theDepartment of Zoology, University of Jos.

REFERENCESAnthony, A. D. (1982). Identification of Nigerian

Freshwater Fishes. University of Jos Press, Jos,Nigeria. 21 pp.

AOAC (1984). Official methods of the Association ofOfficial Analytical Chemists (14th Edition)AOAC, Arlington, VA, USA. 1141 pp.

APHA (1985). Standard Methods for Examination ofWater and Waste Water (l6th Edition). AmericanPublic Health Association, Washington D.C.,USA. l268pp.

Appler, H. N. and Jauncey, H. (1983). The utilizationof a filamentous green algae iCladopthoraglomerata L.) as a protein source in pelleted feedson Sarotherodon niloticus fmgerlings. Aquaculture38: 21-30.

Clancy, S., Beames, R. Higgs, D. Dosanjh, B., Haard,N. and Toy, B. (1995). Influence of spoilage andprocessing temperature on the quality of marineprotein sources for salmonids. AquacultureNutrition J: 169 - 177.

Dupree, H. R. and Huner, 1. U. (1984). The Status ofWarmwater Fish Farming and Progress in FishFarming Research. U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServoWashington, D.C. USA. 155 pp.

Efthimiou, S. (1996). Dietary intake of glucans injuvenile dentex (Dentex dentex), Sparidae: effectson growth, mortalities and non-specific defensemechanisms. Journal of Applied Ichthyology. J 2: 1- 7.

GoW, B. (1975). Tropical Feeds. Food and AgrjculturalOrganization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.525 pp.

Halver, J. E. (1972) Fish Nutrition. Academic PressInc., New York, USA. 675 pp.

58

Table 1: Ingredient compositions and proximate analysis (%) of experimental diets fed to the fingerling of the Niletilapia for 8 weeks ._. . . . .

Ingredient compositionA

Diet designationsB

50.0

----------C D (Control)

Kidney bean mealFishrnealMaize flourCassava flourVegetable oilVitamin and mineral premixChromic oxide

60.0 40.0

Proximate composition

34.0 44.06.0 6.0-:lO 7.02.5 2.50.5 0.5

8.20 7.9217.17 15.926.58 6.065.40 4.023.81 3.57

58.84 62.51

40.044.06.07.02.5

____ ~~ ~0~.5 _

24.06.07.02.50.5

Moisture 9.35Crude protein 17.79Lipid 6.90Fibre 6.92Ash 3.98Carbohydrates" 55.06

6.1224.5910.882.257.19

38.97*Calculated as nitrogen free extracts (NFE)

Table 2: Values* of growth performance indices and protein digestibility of the nngerlings of the Nile tilapia fed theexperimental diets for 8 weeks.

Diet designationsA B C D

Initial body weight (g)Final body weight (g)Weiglrt gain (%)SGR (% day")FCRPERProtein digestibility (%)

1.39 ± 0.07"2.38±0.16b

71.22 ± 1.76c

0.95 ± 0.01 c

1.01 ± 0.05b

0.98 ± 0.01 c

81.04 + o.sz'

1.29 ± 0.l3"2.02 ± 0.27"56.59 ± 0.94b

0.81 ± 0.01 b

1.35 ± 0.08c

0.73±0.51b

69.41 + 1.01"

1.38 ±0.01"1.61 ± O.13b

16.67 ± 0.92"0.45 ± 0.038

1.67 ± o.or'0.51 ± am"67.00 ± 1.02"

1.39 ± 0.07"2.67 ± 0.76°92.02 ± 1.56d

1.01 ± o.or'0.83 ± 0.04"1.12 ± 0.50d

85.04± I.4Ih

iF Values within the same row with same superscripts are not significantly different at 0.05 probability level

Table 3: Proximate composition (%) of the muscle tissue of fingerlings of the Nile tilapia before and after feedingthe experimental diets for 8 weeks.

Proximate Beforecomposition treatment

Diet designationsA B C D

Moisture 6.58Crude protein 58.83Ash 13.35Lipid 10.84Carbohydrates" 10.40

_6.1658.7712.4511.2111.41

5.8657.8012.4011.7412.20

6.6357.6512.8511.08Ii.79

8.9057.3913.8710.998.85

*Calculated as NFE

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Igbe, A. M. (1996). Effects of varying levels of kidneybean, Phaseous vulgaris meal on the growthperformance of the Nile tilapia, Oreochromisniloticus. B.Sc. Dissertation, University of Jos,

: Nigeria. 45 pp.launcey, K. and Ross, B. (1982) A Guide 10 Tilapia

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Lim, C., Beames, R. M., Eales, J. G., Prendergast, A.F., McLeese, J. M., Shearer, K. D. and Higgs, D.A. (1997). Nutritive values of low and high fibrecanola meals for shrimps (Ipenaeus vannamei).Aquaculture Nutrition 3: 269 - 279.

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Olvera, N. M. A, Campos, G. S., Sabido, G. M. andMartinez, P. C. A. (1990). The use of alfalfa leafprotein concentrates as protein source in diets fortilapia. (Oreochromis mossambicus). Aquaculture90: 291 - 302.

Omoregie, E. and Ogbemudia, F. 1. (1993). Effects ofsubstituting fish meal with palm kernel meal ongrowth and food utilization of the Nile tilapia,Oreochromis niloticus. Israeli Journal ofAquaculture 45: 113 - 119.

Omoregie, E., Ufodike, E. B. C. and Umaru, M. S.(1991). Growth and food utilization ofOreochromis niloticus fingerlings fed with dietscontaining cassava peelings and mango seeds.Aquabyte 4: 6 - 7.

Penaflorida, V. D. (1989). An evaluation of indigenousprotein sources as potential component in the dietformulation for tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon,using essential amino acid index (EAAI).Aquaculture 83: 319 - 330.

Rodriguez, S. M., Olvera, N. M. A and Carmona, O.C. (1996). Nutritional value of animal by-productmeal in practical diets for Nile tilapia,Oreochromis niloticus (L.) fry. AquacultureResearch 27: 67 - 73.

Stickney, R. R. (1979). Principles of Warm WaterAquaculture. John Wiley and Sons, New York,USA. 375 pp.

Ufodike, E. B. C. and Matty, A J. (1983). Growthresponses and nutrient digestibility in mirror carp,Cyprinus carpio fed different levels of cassava andrice. Aquaculture 31: 41 - 50.

Ufodike, E. B. C. and Matty, A. J. (1988). Digestibilityand utilization of corn and potato base diets byrainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri). Journal ofAquatic Sciences 3: 1 - 7.

Watanabe, T. (1988). Nutrition and growth In:Intensive Fish Farming (Eds.: C. J. Shepherd andN. R. Bromete). B.S.P. Professional Books,Oxford, UK. 152-195 pp.

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Leucaena Leaf meal in pelleted feed of the Niletilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. Aquaculture 62: 97- 108.

Received: 10th September, 1998, Accepted: 28thMarch, 1999.

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