Replacement of fish meal with yeast (Saccaromyces cerevisiae) in the diet of Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings

Abstract

A feeding trial was carried out to study the effect of replacement of animal protein (fish meal) with single cell protein-yeast (Saccaromyces cerevisiae) on the growth, carcass composition and feed utilization of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings, mean weight of 7.92±0.08g. four isonitrogenous diets were prepared including the control diet to contain as protein source (0%, 20%, 40% and 60% yeast levels). The results showed significant difference (p<0.05) in the growth parameters and carcass composition for the test diets. However, tilapia gave best performance in terms of feed conversion ratio (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) values between 20-40% inclusion levels of baker’s yeast beyond which there was decline in growth and feed utilization.