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Evaluation of toasted sunflower (Helianthus annus) seed meal in the diets of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fingerlings

I A Akintayo, S O Obasa*, W O Alegbeleye* and A M Bangbose**

Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
*Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria
**Department of Animal Nutrition, University of agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria
samoluobasa@yahoo.com

Abstract

A feeding trial was designed and carried out to assess the growth, nutrient utilization heamatological profile and yield of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus fed graded levels of toasted sunflower seed meal based diets. One hundred and fifty (150) fingerlings of Clarias gariepinus (13.08±0.1g) were fed with five iso-nitrogenous diets containing 40% crude protein. The toasted sunflower seed meal (TSFSM) protein replaced fishmeal meal in the diets in the following proportions: Diet TSFI (0% TSFSM), Diet TSF2 (25%TSFSM), Diet TSF3 (50% TSFSM), Diet TSF4 (75% TSFSM), and Diet TSF5 (100% TSFSM). At the end of the trial, the mean weight gain of fish was highest in diet TSF1 (103.47g), and lowest in diet TSF5 (24.54g), with a significant difference (p<0.05). There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in mean weight gain (MWG) of fish fed diet TSF1 (and fish fed diet TSF2. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was best in fish fed dietTSF1 (1.18) but not significantly different (P>0.05) from fish fed diet TSF2 (1.28). The highest apparent net protein utilization (APP-NPU) of 25.00% was recorded in fish fed diet TSF1. It was significantly higher (P<0.05) than others, while the lowest value of 15.00% was recorded in fish fed diet TSF5. Heamatological parameters such as pack cell volume (PCV), heamoglobin (Hb) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) decreased as toasted sunflower seed meal increased in diet. PCV was higher (35.00mg/dl) significantly in fish fed TSF1 than the value of (31.00mg/dl) in fish fed diet TSF4. It was therefore observed that toasted sunflower seed meal protein can favourably replace 25% of fishmeal protein in the diets of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings.

Keywords: fishmeal, growth response, heamatological profile, iso-nitrogenous, nutrient utilization, protein


Introduction

One major constraint to achieving increased pond fish production in many developing countries of the world is the scarcity of cheap but balanced fish diets. This problem is further compounded by the soaring cost of some important ingredients like fishmeal and soybean which are in short supply, hence, the need for considering alternative cheap and affordable fish feedstuffs.

Fishmeal is a high quality protein source considered indispensable in catfish diets. This is due to its superior amino acid profile and its value as an attractant. However, good quality fishmeal is not locally available in Nigeria, it is imported and it is expensive. Statistics (Tacon 1993) showed that fishmeal demand far out-weighs the supply. Hence, alternative plant and animal protein sources are being searched for by fish nutritionists to partially or totally replace fishmeal in order to reduce cost of feed.

Most sunflowers are grown for their seeds, which produce excellent oil, which is light in colour, has mild flavour, and low level of saturated fats. The oil is used in cooking, salad dressing, manufacturing of margarine, paints and cosmetics (Olowe 2003). The residue after oil extraction is called the seed cake or meal. It is a rich source of linoleic acid and vitamin B, (which is limiting in other plant protein sources) and high in vitamin E (Olowe 2003). Despite high crude fibre content, it is a palatable ingredient that can be used as a source of supplementary protein in livestock feed. It also has a good amino acid profile (Ogunremi 1988), although it contains less lysine but more methionine than soybean. On the above background this work was carried out, accessing the growth response, nutrient utilization and heamatological profile of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings fed varying levels of toasted sunflower seed meal based diets.

Materials and methods

One hundred and fifty (150) fingerlings of Clarias gariepinus of (13.08±0.1g) average weight were collected from a commercial fish farm in Ogun State, Nigeria. The fish were acclimatized for one week and starved for 24 hours before being placed on experimental diets. Fifteen (15) net hapa (1m×1m×1m) were set in a concrete tank (10m × 5m × 1.3m) at the Experimental Farm of the Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. Fish were distributed randomly at the stocking rate of 15 fish per hapa in replicate of three per treatment. Water supply was from the University’s water system, passed through pipes into the concrete tanks. The water was allowed to stay in an open tank for about 72 hours for the chlorine use in the treatment of the water to oxidize.

The sunflower seeds used was the Funtua breed (one of the most common breed cultivated in Nigeria), supplied by Research and Development Centre of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. The seeds were de-hulled using local melon grinder, winnowed, picked and toasted at about 80°C. All the ingredients were milled using locally abricated hammer mill to a homogenous size profile and analyzed for proximate composition (table 1).
Table 1.   Proximate composition of feed ingredients
Crude protein, % Ether extract, % Crude fibre, % Ash, %
Fish meal 67.7 4.10 1.31 14.8
Soy meal 45.3 18.0 5.00 4.60
Groundnut cake 34.5 8.80 4.31 13.8
Sunflower seed meal 33.3 17.2 12.3 5.00
Corn meal 10.8 5.50 1.40 1.40
Five iso-nitrogenous artificial diets containing 40% crude protein in which the Fishmeal protein was replaced with toasted sunflower seed meal at 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% levels were formulated and compounded (Table 2).

Table 2. Gross, (g/kg dry matter) and proximate (%) composition of diets fed to Clarias gariepinus fingerlings

Diets

TSF1

TSF2

TSF3

TSF4

TSF5

SEM*

Ingredients







Fishmeal

313

266

196

112

-


Sunflower seed meal

-

88.5

198

337

435


Groundnut cake

105

119

130

150

145


Soybean meal

211

233

263

297

291


Corn meal

318

242

160

51.3

76.3


Vegetable oil

25.0

25.0

25.0

25.0

25.0


Vitamin premix**

10.0

10.0

10.0

10.0

10.0


Lysine

5.00

5.00

5.00

5.00

5.00


Methionine

5.00

5.00

5.00

5.00

5.00


Di-calcium phosphate

5.00

5.00

5.00

5.00

5.00


Common salt

2.50

2.50

2.50

2.50

2.50


Proximate composition







Moisture

10.5a

10.4a

10.4a

9.58b

8.37c

0.65

Crude protein

39.7a

39.1a

39.9a

39.0a

40.1a

0.32

Fat

10.1

11.2

12.3

12.3

13.5

0.27

Fibre

5.89

5.94

6.30

6.15

6.42

0.20

Ash

7.43

8.00

7.42

8.16

8.39

0.19

Nitrogen free extract

26.2

25.2

23.3

23.8

23.2

0.27

Figures in each row with the same superscript are not significantly different (P<0.05)
SEM*- Standard error of the mean
**RADAR VIT. PREMIX supplies per 100g diet. Palmitate (A) 10001U; cholecaciferol (D) 10001U; a- tocopherol acetate (E) 1.1mg; Menadione (K) 0.2mg; Thiamine (BI) 0.63mg; Riboflavin (B2) 0.5mg; panthothenic acid, 0.9mg; Pyridoxine (B6) 0.15mg; Cyanocobalamine (B12), 0.001mg: Nicotinic acid 3.0mg; Folic acid 0.1mg; Choline 31.3mg; Ascobic acid (C), 2.5mg; Fe, 0.05mg; Cu 0.25mg Mn 6.0mg; Co, 0.5mg; Zn 5.0mg; I, 0.2mg; S, 0.02mg
The diets were fed to fish in triplicate treatments. Fish were fed twice daily at 5% body weight between the hours of 8:00 and 9:00 and 14:00 – 16:00 Hrs.

Fish were batched weighed weekly with a weighing balance (Metller 601 BD) and rations were adjusted accordingly. The pH was monitored with the pH meter (E520) Metrolin model, the dissolved oxygen (DO) was monitored by using the oxygen meter while the water temperature was measured with mercury-in-glass thermometer.

A sample of 10 fish of the initial stock as well as 5 samples of live fish from each treatment were removed and sacrificed at the commencement and expiration of the experiment respectively for carcass analysis. Proximate analysis of triplicate samples of ingredients, diets and fish were carried out using the methods described by AOAC (1990). Blood samples for analyses were collected from the caudal peduncle with a fine syringe and drawn into heamatocrit bottle for analysis. Analysis for the following blood parameters were carried out: Erythrocyte counts (RBC), white blood cell count (WBC) and pack cell volume were analyzed according to Blaxhall and Dalsey 1973. Heamoglobin was according to Roberts 1978 while, mean corpuscular volume (MCV) mean corpuscular heamoglobin concentration (MCHC) and mean corpuscular heamoglobin (MCH) were analyzed according to Meyer et al 1992.

Diet performance was evaluated on experimental fish according to Olivera- Nova et al (1990). Data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation analysis system programme (SAS 1988).

Results

The proximate composition of experimental diets (Table 2) shows that moisture was highest in diet TSF3 and lowest in TSF5. Crude proteins were almost equal in all the diets ranging from 39.03% in TSF4 to 40.73% in diet TSFI while fat increased directly as toasted sunflower seed meal increased in diets. The ash contents ranged from 7.42% in diet TSF1 to 8.31% in diet TSF5.

The proximate composition of the experimental fish (Clarias gariepinus) fingerlings is presented in Table 3.

Table 3.  Proximate composition of carcass of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings fed varying levels of toasted sunflower seed meal based diets

Parameters, %

Initial

TSF1

TSF2

TSF3

TSF4

TSF5

SEM*

Moisture

10.0

10.2c

10.4b

10.5b

11.1a

11.0 a

0.10

Crude protein

58.0

68.2a

66.3b

65.9c

65.6d

64.7e

0.77

Lipid

11.5

9.50e

11. 2a

10.9b

10.5c

10.4d

0.26

Ash

11.5

9.45c

10.2b

9.45c

11.6a

11.5a

0.22

Figures in each row with the same superscript are not significantly different (p>0.05).SEM
*- Standard error of the mean
Crude protein maintained a regular downward trend as the toasted sunflower seed meal increased in diet with the highest in fish fed TSF1 and the lowest in fish fed TSF5 while fat content showed an irregular trend. Values ranged from 9.50% in fish fed diet TSF2 to 11.50% in fish fed TSF2. The growth response and nutrient utilization (Table 4) displayed a consistent decrease in parameters as toasted sunflower seed meal increased in diets.

Table 4. Growth response of and nutrient utilization of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings fed varying levels of toasted sunflower seed meal based diets

Parameters

TSF1

TSF2

TSF3

TSF4

TSF5

SEM*

Initial mean body weight, g

13.8

13.7

13.97

13.9

13.6

0.09

Final mean body weight, g

118a

110 a

66.2b

53.9b

29.3c

8.87

Mean weight gain, g

103.47 a

96.68a

50.95c

39.92 c

24.54d

7.34

Feed intake, g

122 a

115 b

95.4 c

83.2 d

53.97e

5.22

% weight gain, g

748a

708 a

408 c

358 c

180d

61.4

Average daily growth, g

1.23a

1.15 a

0.65b

0.59bc

0.29d

0.41

Specific growth rate, %/day

2.54 a

2.40 b

1.93 c

1.81 c

1.23 c d

0.61

Feed conversion ratio

1.18 d

1.28 d

1.87 c

2.08b

2.19 a

0.17

Protein efficiency ratio

2.12a

2.05 b

1.73 c

1. 50d

1.14 e

0. 8

Net protein utilization

25.0 a

20.6 b

19.8 c

19.0 c

15.0 d

1.10

Survival, %

96.7ba

93.3b

93.3b

100a

76.7c

2.67

Figures in each row with the same superscript are not significantly different (p>0.05).
SEM*- Standard error of the mean
There was no significant difference (P> 0.05) between fish fed TSFI and fish fed TSF2 in percentage weight gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio and apparent net protein utilization. Results of the heamatological profile (Table 5) generally show a decrease in values as toasted sunflower seed meal increased in diets.

Table 5 Haematological profile of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings fed toasted sunflower seed meal based diets for 84 days

Parameters

Initial

TSF1

TSF2

TSF3

TSF4

TSF5

SEM*

Pack Cell Volume

33.0

35.0a

34.3b

32.7d

31.0e

33.3c

0.32

Heamoglobin,g/dl

9.32

10.1 a

10.1 a

10.1a

10.0 a

10.1 a

0.07

Erythrocyte, x 102/L

1.48

1.65b

1.67a

1.60 e

1.50d

1.60c

0.02

White blood cell, 106/L

6.52

6.60a

6.65ba

6.40ba

6.23B

6.33ab

0.04

Total protein, mg/dl

53.2

65.0b

67.3a

60.3c

60.7c

63.3bc

0.28

Glucose, mg/dl

62.0

65.0a

65.3a

60.3c

60.7c

63.3 b

0.25

Mean corpuscular volume

223

212a

205c

204d

207b

208e

11.5

Mean corpuscular heamoglobin

6.30

6.09 c

6.03 c

6.25 b

6.68a

6.28 b

0.26

Figures in each row with the same superscript are not significantly different (P> 0.05)
SEM*- Standard error of the mean
The pack cell volume (PCV) was highest in fish fed with diet TSF1 with a value of 35.00 but was not significantly higher (p>0.05) than 34.33 in fish fed diet TSF2. Although, values of erythrocyte count (RBC) and the mean corpuscular heamoglobin (MCH) were higher in fish fed diet TSF2 but not significantly (p>0.05) than in fish fed diet TSF1.

Discussion

It is apparent from the results of this trial that the growth and nutrient utilization of Clarias gariepinus were influenced by levels of toasted sunflower seed meal inclusion in diets. Moreover, from observation, diet acceptance was satisfactory and the fish got accustomed to the diets during the first week of the experiment. This later decreased with increasing inclusion levels of toasted sunflower seed meal with time. Diet TSF1 was most preferred and which translated into superior growth performance and diet utilization. This result is not surprising since fishmeal was described as a protein source with high nutritional value (Fagbenro and Davies 2001).

 The significant difference (P<0.05) in the growth response and nutrient utilization within the replacement levels was probably an indication that those parameters were mainly influenced by the different replacement levels of fishmeal by toasted sunflower seed meal. However the lack of significant difference between the reference diet and diet at 25% fishmeal replacement level showed that fishmeal could be replaced by toasted sunflower seed meal at this level of inclusion in the diets of Clarias gariepinus without compromising growth performance. This is in agreement with similar studies by Olivera-Novoa et al 2002 and Khan et al 2003,) using sunflower seed meal as protein source in the diets of Tilapia rendalli and also in the diet of Cyprinus carpio respectively. They observed high decrease in growth rate of the fish with an increase in plant protein level from 75-100% in diet. Though Mukhopadyay and Ray (2001) observed that plant derived protein such as linseed meal and sesame seed meal could replace fish meal at levels as high as 50% when fortified with synthetic amino acids. This is contrary to what was observed in this study even with the diets fortified with amino acids, significant growth depression was observed at inclusion level of toasted sunflower seed meal above 25%. This depression observed could be probably due to high levels of inclusion which could have resulted in reduced palatability and also declined dietary protein quality of the diets. Similar results were observed by workers like Appler and Jauncey (1983), Wee and Wang (1987) when Nile tilapia was fed high levels of plant protein sources. Ipinjolu et al (1989), feeding common carp (Cyprinus carpio) with palm kernel based diets, Absalom et al (1999), feeding the Nile tilapia with kidney bean meal and Obasa et al (2004) replacing soybean meal with mucuna seed meal in the diets of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Maina et al (2007), feeding Oreochromis niloticus on high-fibre and fibre-reduced sunflower cakes based diets reported that reducing the fibre content of sunflower cake improved growth rate and weight gain. Mwachireya et al (1999) however, have suggested that high fibre content of plant can be considered an anti-nutritional principle.

The hematological parameters PVC, HB, MCV, and MCHC of Clarias gariepinus fed different levels of sunflower seed meal based diets show a significant difference. A measurable increase in WB and RBC was observed to be consistent with increase in inclusion level of toasted sunflower seed meal. The white blood count of fish or any animal is a function of the immunity and the animals’ resistance to some vulnerable illness or disease (Akinwande et al 2004), this increase may be an indication that the fish had high immunity or resistance to disease. The high red blood cell count indicates high oxygen absorption and transportation capacity of the cells of the fish, though other assessed parameters did not follow any particular trend that could be associated with the inclusion levels of sunflower seed meal in the diet. The significant changes observed in the heamatological condition could be related to stress. Stress factors such as handling and low dissolved oxygen contain are known to induce relative changes in hematological parameters (Kjartansson et al 1988). Thus from the above, it is apparent that toasted sunflower seed meal can successfully replace fishmeal at 25% level in the diets of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus fingerlings.

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Received 13 February 2008; Accepted 14 June 2008; Published 3 October 2008

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