Page 15 - Aquauclature Research and Studies (01)

AQUAUCLATURE
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Research and Studies 1 (1): 15-01, 2026 page of 193

barrel temperatures were maintained at 100–120°C and the die head temper-
ature was set at 150°C. Subsequently, the feed was oven-dried at 55°C and
stored in air-tight plastic containers at ambient temperature.
2.2 Feeding and sampling
The digestibility study was conducted in the Wet Laboratory, Depart-
ment of Aquaculture, Faculty of Agriculture, UPM. Juvenile red tilapia were
sourced from the Puchong Aquaculture Experimental Station, UPM. The fish
were acclimatised for 14 days in 1000-L fiberglass tanks and given a com-
mercial tilapia diet (Star Feed 32% protein) for 2 weeks. The fish (initial
weight 85.5 ± 5 g) were randomly stocked in 120-L glass aquaria at 10 fish
per tank. All treatments were carried out in triplicates. Fish were fed to satia-
tion twice a day (0900 and 1600h) for 4 weeks. Faecal samples were collected
from Day 4 to allow for the complete evacuation of the acclimatisation diet.
The faecal matter was carefully siphoned out from the tank floor (3 h after
the first feeding and 0.5 h before the second feeding) as described by
Vasagam et al. (2007). Following the collection of the final faecal samples,
the fish were fasted for 72 h. Three fish per dietary treatment were euthanized
at 0, 4, 8, 16 and 24 h after feeding one meal. The fish were anesthetised with
clove essential oil. Collection of blood samples was made from the caudal
veins, centrifuged at 8000 rpm for 10 min, and then plasma glucose, choles-
terol, and amylase were determined using an automated analyser (Hitachi
902).
Table 1: Proximate and amino acid composition (% as fed basis), and antinutritional factors
in carob seed germ meal, fishmeal and soybean meal
Nutri- Fishmeal SBM Untreated Soaked Autoclaved
ent CSGM CSGM CSGM
Dry 91.01±0.0 89.91±0.9 93.38±0.11 92.35±0.11 92.39±0.12
mat- 0 1
ter
Crude 56.64±0.1 45.97±0.2 40.05±0.11 40.75±0.33 40.88±0.38
pro- 2 9
tein