USING OF ANIMAL BY PRODUCTS AS AN ALTERNATIVE PROTEIN SOURCE IN NILE TILAPIA (Oreochromis niloticus) DIETS

Four diets were formulated to include different sources of animal by-products as a protein source in Nile tilapia (5.79 +/- 0.05 g) diets. The first group fed diet containing fish meal (T1), while the 2nd, 3rd and 4th groups fed a mixture of poultry by-product meal (PBM), animal by-product meal (ABM) and kitchen waste meal (KWM) at 50: 25: 25 (T2); 25: 50: 25 (T3) and 25: 25: 50 (T4) ratio, respectively. All diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous and isolipidic. After 120 days, apparent digestibility and growth parameters were measured. The obtained results revealed that, the chemical composition of fish meal had the highest value of protein followed by PBM and KWM. Fish meal had higher essential amino acids content, except for the threonine and arginine amino acids, followed by PBM and ABM. The highest apparent digestibility of crude protein and ether extract were recorded in T1 and T2 followed by T4 and T3 groups. T1 and T2 groups exhibited significantly (P<0.05) the highest growth performance over fish fed T3 and T4 diets. It could be suggested that using of waste protein sources especially containing high PBM as a replacement for fish meal to reduce the feed cost per Kg fish Production.