REPLACEMENT OF FISH MEAL BY JOJOBA MEAL (SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS) IN THE DIETS FOR RED TILAPIA, OREOCHROMIS MOSSAMBICUS X O. NILOTICUS FRY

Abstract

The study was directed to estimate the effect of jojoba meal Simmondsia chinensis protein as alternative protein source of fish meal protein with replacing levels of 0, 25, 50,75 and 100 % on the performance of red tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus x O. niloticus fry. One hundred and fifty fries (average weight 0.97±0.08 g/fry) wererandomly distributed into 15 aquaria, ten fish /aquaria fish were fed experimental diets in triplicate aquaria for 98 days. The inclusion of jojoba meal in the experimental diets did affect significantly the growth performance of red tilapia among all treatments. Significant differences were observed in terms of feed conversion ratio (FCR) and/or protein efficiency ratio (PER) by increasing jojoba meal protein level in the diets. Fish fed diet 2 which contained 25% jojoba meal protein had significantly the best growth performance parameters. Increasing jojoba meal protein significantly reduced the growth performance parameters. Fish fed D5 with 100% jojoba meal exhibited the highest value of crude protein. Fish fed D5 with 100% jojoba meal exhibited the highest value of crude protein. Also, the contents of carcass lipid and ash were increased significantly (P < 0.05) by increasing jojoba meal replacement in the experimental diets. No histopathological effect was observed among all treatments. It could be concluded that jojoba meal protein can be replaced in the diets for red tilapia fries up to 25% of fish meal protein without affecting the performance of red tilapia fries and/or histopathological indices.