Effect of Replacement of Soybean Meal with Sesame Meal in The Diet of Thai-Chitralada Strain of Oreochromis niloticus (L)

Background: The present study was aimed to determine effect of replacement of soybean meal (SBM) with sesame meal (SSM) in the diet of Juvenile Thai chitralada tilapia. Methods: The study was undertaken with different inclusion levels of sesame meal (SSM) such as T1 (25% SSM), T2 (30% SSM), T3 (35% SSM) and control feed (C) for a period of 90 days. Result: Thai-Chitralada tilapia fed with T3 (35% SSM) diet attained maximum mean weight gain (28.09 g), highest specific growth rate (SGR) (2.69%), best feed conversion ratio (FCR) (1.04), maximum average daily growth (ADG) (0.31 g) and maximum protein efficiency ratio (PER) (8.87). The lowest growth rate (GR) was observed in the group fed with control diet. Diets with 35% SSM replacement upon SBM showed higher amino acid (AA) profile than other treatments and control diet. Analysed AA profile in T3 - 35% SSM was Arg - 2.88, Hist - 0.86, Isol - 0.92, Leu - 2.60, Lys - 3.78, Met - 0.39, Cys - 0.38, Phe - 1.77, Thr - 1.08, Val - 0.99, Tyro - 1.09, Trypt - 0.24. The higher DNA / RNA ratio of Thai-Chitralada tilapia was obtained in T3 - 0.459, followed by T1 - 0.44 and T2 - 0.323. The lower DNA / RNA ratio of Thai-Chitralada was obtained in control - 0.321. One way ANOVA of the data analysis and Duncan multiple range test clearly affirmed that different between and sampling periods, Thai-Tilapia fingerlings had significant difference (P less than 0.05) among the different experimental diets. From the present experiment, it could be concluded that, sesame seed meal can replace 35% SBM in the diets of Thai-Chitralada tilapia.