Partial replacement of soybean meal by sesame meal in diets of juvenile Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus L.

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to determine the effects of replacing of soybean meal (SBM) with sesame meal (SM) in the diets of Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings. Seven practical diets (33 g kg(-1) crude protein, 19.2 MJ kg(-1) dry diet) containing substitution levels of 0%, 8%, 16%, 24%, 32%, 40% and 48% SM for SBM protein were formulated and fed to triplicate groups of 0. niloticus fingerlings (mean initial weight of 8.74 +/- 0.12 g). The fish survival rate, hepatosomatic index, viscerosomatic index and condition factor were not significantly affected by the contents of SM in the diets (P > 0.05). The final body weight, weight gain (WG), specific growth ratio, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio of the fish fed the diet containing 16% SM were similar (P > 0.05) to that of the fish fed the control diet. Except lipid, digestible contents of dry matter, crude protein, ash, gross energy and individual amino acids decreased while phosphorous increased with increasing SM levels. No significant differences were observed in whole-body dry matter, ash and lipid contents among all the treatments (P > 0.05); crude protein contents between fish fed the control diet and a diet containing 24% SM were also not affected significantly (P > 0.05), and the phosphorus content was not significantly different when the SM level was increased to 32% (P > 0.05). No significant negative differences were observed in the liver composition between fish fed the control diet and the diet containing 24% SM. The most efficient diet in terms of cost per unit WG of fish was obtained in 8% SM dietary substitution, while no significant differences were found among the 0%, 8% and 16% levels. It was indicated that SM can be utilized in the juvenile Nile tilapia diet to replace about 16% of SBM protein without causing negative effects on growth performance, body composition, liver composition and feed utilization.