Amino Acids Composition of Maggot, Earthworm, Termite and Chicken Viscera Meals Used as Proteins Sources in Fish Feeding

Abstract

The present study was conducted to compare the nutritive value of animal protein sources such as maggot meal (MM), earthworm meal (EM), termite meal (TM) and chicken viscera meal (CM) for fish feeding. Amino acids composition was determined in triplicate by HPLC method. These sources were rich in crude protein (54.30-71.8%), crude fat (10.7-18.7%) and crude fibre (5.7-9.7%). The total amino acid ranged from 18.8 to 57.19 g/100 g of crude protein and the percentages of essential amino acids were 61.58% (MM), 46.21% (EM), 32.02% (TM) and 45.72% (CM). CM was the richest in total acid amino acid (Aspartic acid and Glutamic acid) than other protein sources whereas basic amino acid (Histidine, Lysine and Arginine) was higher in MM than others. Leucine has the most concentrated amino acid in MM, EM and CM whereas there is phenylalanine in TM. Predicted protein efficiency ratio (P-PER 1 and P-PER 2 ) values were (2.16, 2.14) MM, (0.68, 0.67) EM, (0.79, 0.27) TM, and (1.20, 1.13) CM respectively; isoelectric point (pI) ranged from 1.10 to 3.65; chemical index (ICh) values were: (1.07) MM, (0.24) EM, (0.11) TM and (0.61) CM. Consequently, the results showed that MM was better at 76.47%, CM in 17.64% while TM was better at 5.88%. Based on these, maggot, earthworm and chicken viscera would be recommended as alternative protein sources to fish meal, especially maggot for fish feeding.