EFFECT OF ADDING Moringa oleifera LEAF POWDER TO FISH MEAL ON THE WEIGHT OF COMMON CARP (Cyprinus Carpio L.) AND SOME GROWTH INDICATORS

Abstract

This study was conducted from 25/8/2022 until 23/10/2022 to investigate the effect of adding Moringa oleifera leaf powder (MOLs) to fish meal (FM) in enhancing the growth rates of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) by supplementing it with different levels of M. oleifera leaves. The T1 was regarded as a control group without MOLs supplementation, whereas 5, 10, and 15 g kg-1 of MOLs were added to the FM of T2, T3, and T4 groups, respectively. The fish were fed twice daily with a feed rate of (2%) of the fish's weight. During the experiment period, fish were weighed every 15 days until the last week of the experiment. Body weight rates, weight gain (WG), daily growth rate (DGR), relative growth rate (RGR), and specific growth rate (SGR) were calculated. The highest average body weight was recorded in the T3 group (77.53 g), followed by the T2 group (74.57 g). The T4 group recorded the lowest percentage of body weight, namely 74.33 g, compared to the T1 group (24.54 g). The WG and DGR rates significantly increased in the T3 group (49.87 and 0.87 g, respectively). In contrast, T2 recorded a non-significant reduction in WG (45.47g) and DGR (0.79 g), while the T4 revealed a significant reduction in WG and DGR being 6.68 g and 0.11 g, respectively, compared with the T1 group for WG (47.06 g) and DGR (0.82 g). Concerning the RGR rate, the T2 and T3 groups recorded a non-significant increase, namely 102.51% and 94.11%, respectively. The SGR results were fluctuating, as the T3 group revealed a non-significant increase of 1.23 %/day, while the T2 group exhibited a non-significant decrease, of 1.16 %/day. The T4 group recorded a significant reduction in RGR and SGR, namely 14.27% and 0.23 %/day, respectively, compared to the T1 group for RGR (96.31%) and SGR (1.18 %/day).

Keywords: fish, medicinal plants, Moringa oleifera, growth, common carp