Effect of citric acid acidified Moringa oleifera seed meal based diet on nutrients digestibility and growth performance of Cirrhinus mrigala fingerlings

Abstract

This research work was conducted to evaluate the effect of citric acid (CA) acidified Moringa oleifera (Lamarck) seed meal (MOSM) based diet on the apparent digestibility coefficients and growth performance of Cirrhinus mrigala (Hamilton, 1822) fingerlings. MOSM based diet was sub-divided into one control diet (0% CA) and five test diets, each supplemented with 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% CA, respectively. Ten fingerlings of C. mrigala were stocked in V-shaped water tanks used in triplicate for each treatment. The feed was given at 5% live wet body weight of fingerlings for 90 days. Results showed that 3% CA acidified diet significantly enhanced (p < 0.05) the apparent digestibility of crude protein (67.93%), crude fat (71.43%) and gross energy (69.00 kcal/g). Diet acidification with CA also significantly (p < 0.05) improved overall growth performance of C. mrigala fingerlings as compared to control diet. The acidification of MOSM based diet with 3% CA significantly (p < 0.05) increased weight gain (WG; 24.45 g), weight gain percent (WG; 255.73%), specific growth rate (SGR; 1.41) and significantly (p < 0.05) decreased feed conversion ratio (FCR; 1.29). In conclusion, 3% CA acidified MOSM based diet is recommended for better nutrients digestibility and growth performance of C. mrigala fingerlings.