Growth, metabolism and digestibility of Nile tilapia fed diets with solvent and extrusion-treated Jatropha curcas cake.

Physic nut Jatropha curcas cake/meal obtained after oil extraction has a high protein content, however, the presence of antinutrients (trypsin inhibitor, lectin and phytate) and toxic compounds (phorbol esters) limit their use as an alternative feedstuff. Thus, the detoxification process in cake/meal is necessary to allow their inclusion in fish diets. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of solvent and extrusion-treated jatropha cake (SETJC) in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) diets on growth, body composition, nutrient utilization, metabolic and hematological responses, and digestibility of experimental diets. Five experimental diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous (28.50% digestible protein) and isoenergetic (13.39 MJ/kg digestible energy) with graded levels of SETJC (0, 3, 6, 9, and 12%). The experimental design was completely randomized with five treatments and four replicates. The detoxification treatments reduced the phorbol esters (PE) of jatropha cake by 96% (0.58 mg/g of PE before and 0.023 mg/g of PE after treatments). Increased levels of SETJC depressed growth, feed efficiency, and protein digestibility. A similar trend was observed for hematological and biochemistry parameters. Aspartate and alanine aminotransferase, as well as phosphorus and magnesium concentrations in the fillets, increased at the highest levels of SETJC. Thus, the data of the present study suggests that the residual content, different structural forms of phorbol ester and its biological activity, as well as some antinutritional factors, can influence negatively the growth, metabolism and digestibility of experimental diets for Nile tilapia.

Nutritional evaluation of crambe meal as a partial replacement of soybean meal in Nile tilapia diet.

A variety of plant protein sources have been evaluated in aquafeeds. Crambe meal (CM) has potential for inclusion in fish diets because of its nutritional composition. This study evaluated the apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) of crambe meal and its potential to partially replace soybean meal (SM) protein in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus diets. The ADC for dry matter, crude protein, ether extract, energy, amino acids, calcium and phosphorus of CM were assessed in fish (n = 80; 65.30 ± 5.32 g). Subsequently, an 80-day feeding trial was conducted with Nile tilapia (n = 140; 6.04 ± 0.25 g) randomly distributed in 20 experimental cages (70 L; seven fish cage-1) allocated in five circular tanks (1000 L) in a recirculation water system, to evaluate the effects of replacement of SM by CM (0, 6, 12, 18 and 24% in isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets) on growth, blood parameters, fillet yield and proximal composition. The CM shows good digestibility of protein (0.824) and amino acids (0.844) by Nile tilapia and its inclusion in the diet does not affect carcass and fillet yield or proximal composition. Fish fed diets with 24.0% of the SM replaced by CM showed the worst weight gain and feed conversion rate. The protein efficiency ratio decreased in fish fed diets with 12.0, 18.0 and 24.0% of the SM replaced by CM. Hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, total plasma protein, glucose and alanine aminotransferase enzyme activity trend to increase at highest levels of CM in the diet. In conclusion, CM has high digestibility of protein and amino acids for Nile tilapia. However, anti-nutritional factors present in untreated CM interfere on the growth and nutrient utilization of Nile tilapia.