The use of seed of the leguminous plant Sesbania grandiflora as a partial replacement for fish meal in diets for tilapia ( Oreochromis mossambicus)

Abstract

Two trials were conducted with fingerling tilapia to ascertain the nutritive value of Sesbania grandiflora seed meal as a dietary replacement for fish meal in a practical ration. For the first experiment, autoclaved sesbania seed was used in the diets to replace 10, 15, 25 and 35% of the fish meal protein. In the second experiment the seed was used to replace 25% of the dietary protein after four aqueous treatments, designed to remove compounds toxic to tilapia. The survival, growth, and feed utilization efficiency were adversely affected as the level of heat-treated seed meal was increased in the food. The aqueous treatments improved the quality of the seed as food, but not to a level of performance obtained with fish meal. Apparently the seed contains non-thermolabile toxins that produce high mortality and severely reduce fish growth and feed utilization.