Apparent nutrient digestibility and mineral availability of protein-rich ingredients in extruded diets for Nile tilapia

Apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC) of gross energy and dry matter (DM) and mineral availability were evaluated for eight protein-rich ingredients (corn gluten meal, soybean meal, cottonseed meal at 280.0 and 380.0 g/kg, poultry by-product meal, meat meal, fish meal and feather meal) in compound diets for Nile tilapia. Chromic oxide was used as inert digestibility marker. Higher ADC values of DM and energy were, respectively, 0.862 and 0.881 for corn gluten meal, 0.811 and 0.888 for poultry by-product meal; 0.729 and 0.731 for feather meal; 0.666 and 0.754 for fish meal; 0.578 and 0.642 for soybean meal; 0.476 and 0.652 for meat meal at 450.0 g/kg; 0.352 and 0.449 for cottonseed meal at 380 g/kg; and 0.251 and 0.324 for cottonseed meal at 280.0 g/kg. The highest average mineral availability was for poultry by-product meal (0.582), and the lowest calcium and phosphorus availability were recorded for cottonseed meal at 280.0 g/kg. Therefore, poultry by-product meal appears to be the best ingredient for using in Nile tilapia diets.