Effect of Substituting Soybean Meal with Moringa oleifera Meal on the Growth and Body Composition of Labeo rohita Fingerlings

The present study was conducted to examine the effect of replacing soybean meal in fish diets with the cheaper alternative plant protein moringa meal (Moringa oleifera) on growth and body composition of Labeo rohita fingerlings. L. rohita (average weight 190.25 +/- 00g) were stocked randomly in glass aquaria for a 90 day feeding trial. Fish were fed twice daily with four different iso-nitrogenous diets at a feeding level of 3% of total biomass. The diets contained 26% crude protein in which moringa meal substituted soybean meal at 0% (control), 10%, 20% and 30%, with the groups fed these diets designated as T-0, T-1, T-2 and T-3, respectively. The highest weight gain (254.00 +/- 4.24 g) was recorded in T-3 and lowest in T-0 (80.97 +/- 17.80 g). Significant differences (P < 0.01) were observed in the feed conversion ratio (FCR) between T-3 (1.81 +/- 0.06) and T-1 (2.70 +/- 0.13) and specific growth rate (SGR) of T-3 (0.42 +/- 00) and T-1 (0.25 +/- 0.01). These findings indicated that M. oleifera meal has good potential to substitute soybean meal as a relatively cheap and good quality plant protein source without any harmful effects on fish body composition.