Growth performance of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fi ngerlings fed with water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) diets

Abstract

Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) are herbivores with longer coiled intestines compared to carnivores; mouth characteristics necessary for plant shredding. Hence, several studies have been conducted to replace feed ingredients in the diet of Nile tilapia considering the increasing cost. In this study, Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) was evaluated as a potential feed ingredient for Nile tilapia. A six months feeding trial was conducted to assess the effects of water spinach fi sh feed composition on the performance of Nile tilapia fi ngerlings. Five diets were formulated containing 0% (control diet), 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% water spinach composition. Each treatment was carried out in triplicate using 30 Nile tilapia juveniles per replicate with an initial mean weight of 2±1g. The fi sh were fed at 5% body weight twice per day. Water quality monitoring was done every morning before feeding. There was no signifi cant (p > 0.05) variation in water quality parameters between all the treatments. The best growth performance was recorded from a fi sh-fed 5% diet (180.49±0.83 g), while fi sh fed with a 20% diet had poor growth performance (128.98± 0.80g). The highest SGR was obtained in fi sh fed with a 5% diet (1.34±0.05) while the lowest was obtained in fi sh fed with a 20% diet (1.09±0.05). Except for SGR, WG, FL, and FW, there was no signifi cant difference (P>0.05) in other growth parameters of all the treatments. Final weight had a signifi cant difference as determined by One-Way ANOVA (F (4,316) =6.363, P=0.00) between 15% and 20% water spinach composition compared to 5% water spinach composition. Therefore, 5% water spinach composition had the best growth performance.