Digestibility of dietary components and amino acids in animal and plant protein feed ingredients in striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) fingerlings

The apparent digestibility (AD) of dietary components, energy and essential amino acids (EAA) of selected locally available animal and plant protein feed ingredients in striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) fingerlings was studied. The AD of the test ingredients (ADi) differed (P<0.05) and ranged from 81.1% to 90.8%, for ADi(DM), from 84.0% to 95.0% for ADi(CP), from 78.4% to 86.9% for ADi(OM) and from 79.0% to 87.8% for ADi(GE). The highest ADi(DM), ADi(CP) and ADi(OM) in the test ingredients were found for shrimp head meal, catfish by-product meal, golden apple snail and groundnut cake, while the lowest values were obtained for earthworm meal and rice bran. The highest ADi(GE) was found in rice bran, followed by golden apple snail and catfish by-product meal, while there were no differences (P<0.05) between the other test ingredients, except for earthworm meal. The AD of total and individual EAA was high in catfish by-product meal and shrimp head meal, followed by decreasing AD in golden apple snail, groundnut cake, rice bran and earthworm meal ingredients (P<0.05). The low AD of earthworm meal may limit its potential to be used as replacement for fish meal in the feed.