ABSTRACT
Solid-state fermentation increases nutritional bioavailability of plant ingredients by reducing the antinutritional factors and complexity of the nutrients. The present experiment was conducted to replace fish meal (FM) with a mixture (3:1) of yeast fermented guar and copra meal (FGCM) in the diet of Nile tilapia. Five iso-nitrogenous (30% CP) and iso-lipidic (6% CL) diets were formulated replacing FM at 0% (FGCM0), 25% (FGCM 1), 50% (FGCM 2), 75% (FGCM 3), and 100% (FGCM 4) with FGCM mixture. Growth, nutrient utilisation, digestibility, digestive enzyme activity, haematological parameters, and antioxidant capacity were analysed in five treatments after a feeding trial of 75 days. Bioprocessing increased the protein and amino acid content and reduced the antinutritional factors in the guar and copra meal. The weight gain was significantly increased in 25% replaced diet. The feed conversion ratio of tilapia fed with FGCM 1 was similar to that of control and significantly lower (P < 0.05) among the treatments. The group fed with FGCM 1 exhibited significantly higher body protein and lipid content. The activity of digestive enzymes and digestibility of nutrients reduced significantly (P < 0.05) with the replacement of fishmeal beyond 25% with the FGCM mixture. Similarly, the antioxidant enzymes and blood parameters were also negatively affected when more than 25% FM was replaced with FGCM mixture. The cubic regression analysis found that 17.45% FM can be replaced with FGCM mixture for optimum weight gain in tilapia.
