Nutritional evaluation of crambe meal as a partial replacement of soybean meal in Nile tilapia diet

A variety of plant protein sources have been evaluated in aquafeeds. Crambe meal (CM) has potential for inclusion in fish diets because of its nutritional composition. This study evaluated the apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) of crambe meal and its potential to partially replace soybean meal (SM) protein in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus diets. The ADC for dry matter, crude protein, ether extract, energy, amino acids, calcium and phosphorus of CM were assessed in fish (n = 80; 65.30 ± 5.32 g). Subsequently, an 80-day feeding trial was conducted with Nile tilapia (n = 140; 6.04 ± 0.25 g) randomly distributed in 20 experimental cages (70 L; seven fish cage-1) allocated in five circular tanks (1000 L) in a recirculation water system, to evaluate the effects of replacement of SM by CM (0, 6, 12, 18 and 24% in isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets) on growth, blood parameters, fillet yield and proximal composition. The CM shows good digestibility of protein (0.824) and amino acids (0.844) by Nile tilapia and its inclusion in the diet does not affect carcass and fillet yield or proximal composition. Fish fed diets with 24.0% of the SM replaced by CM showed the worst weight gain and feed conversion rate. The protein efficiency ratio decreased in fish fed diets with 12.0, 18.0 and 24.0% of the SM replaced by CM. Hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, total plasma protein, glucose and alanine aminotransferase enzyme activity trend to increase at highest levels of CM in the diet. In conclusion, CM has high digestibility of protein and amino acids for Nile tilapia. However, anti-nutritional factors present in untreated CM interfere on the growth and nutrient utilization of Nile tilapia.