Contribution to the study of the use of natural binders in tilapia feeding (Oreochromis niloticus)

The present study was conducted in the hatchery of the graduate school of fisheries and aquaculture located at the Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology of University Cheikh Anta Diop. It is a contribution to the development of aquaculture feeds using natural binders. A growth performance test was conducted using four isoproteic diets of 30 ± 0.50% differentiated from each other by a binding agent: A: 20 g of Adansonia digitata leaves meal, B: 20 g of Corchorus tridens leaves meal, C: 20 g of arabic gum meal and D : the control containing 20 g of Carboxy-Methyl-Cellulose were fed to a duplicate of Oreochromis niloticus fry for 45 days, with an initial weight of 5.74 ± 0.01g/fish in an isolated system consisting of 8 plastic tanks of 50 liters with a density of 13 fish per tank. The results showed that the best survival rates were obtained with the fish fed B and C diets and the lowest with those fed A and D diets. The specific growth rate (SGR) was higher in the fish fed diet B (1.90 ± 0.1) and lower in fish fed diets (A (1.47 ± 0.1), C (1.46 ± 0.1) and D (1.41 ± 0.1)). The best feed conversion rate (FCR) (2.43 ± 0.01) was obtained in the fish fed diets B. Diets A (3.21 ± 0.02), C (3.56 ± 0.01) and D (3.75 ± 0.01) gave the lowest FCR. The best protein effeciency ratio (PER) was observed with the fish fed diet B (1.34 ± 0.05). The lowest PER were noticed in the other diets. Encouraging results, although preliminary, were obtained at the end of the study. Therefore, these results suggest that the Corchorus tridens leaves meal is likely to replace the Carboxy-methyl-cellulose in feed formulations tilapia diets as binder.