Evaluation and Nutrient Quality of Detoxified Jackbean Seeds, Cooked in Distilled Water or Trona Solution, as a Substitute for Soybean Meal in Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, Diets

ABSTRACT

Jackbean, Canavalia ensiformis, seeds were detoxified using eight different wet thermal detoxification methods in either distilled water (5% w/v) or trona (NaCO₂.NaHCO₃.2H₂O) solution. The effects of the detoxification methods on hemagglutinating, antitryptic and urease activities, and on the digestibility coefficient of crude protein and gross energy in the jackbean seeds were investigated. Cracked jackbean seeds cooked (100°C) in trona solution for one hour proved to be more effective as a method of inactivating the antinutritional factors in jackbean seeds. Dried detoxified jackbean seed meals were incorporated in dry practical diets providing 20% or 30% of total protein and fed to Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, fingerlings (mean weight, 6.7 g) twice daily to apparent satiation for 70 days. Mortality was low and no abnormal fish behavior was noted even when the detoxified jackbean meals provided 30% of total protein in diet. Growth and feed utilization indices, were similar (P > 0.05) between the diet in which cracked jackbean seeds cooked in water provided 20% of total protein and in diets in which cracked jackbean seeds cooked in trona solution provided 20% or 30% of total protein. Carcass composition and hepatosomatic index showed no definite trend among O. niloticus fingerlings fed the experimental diets.

KEYWORDS:

• Jackbean detoxification
• Nile tilapia
• digestibility
• growth
• Oreochromis niloticus