Evaluation of fermented pineapple (Ananas comosus) peel meal as a substitute for maize meal in the diet of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of fermented pineapple peel meal (FPM) on Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings. One hundred and eighty (180) fingerlings of Nile tilapia (1.35±0.13g) were stocked and fed at 5% body weight per day for 56 days. Four iso-nitrogenous diets containing 35% crude protein in which corn meal was replaced by fermented pineapple peel meal at 0% (FPM0), 25% (FPM25), 50% (FPM50) and 75% (FPM75) were formulated and prepared. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in growth, nutrient utilization, survival, protein digestibility and blood parameters between the fish fed the reference diet (FPM0) and fish fed diet FPM75. Weight gain (3.57g) was highest in fish fed diet FPM75 and lowest (2.18g) in fish fed diet FPM50. Feed conversion ratio was lowest (1.70) in fish fed diet FPM25 and highest (1.77) in fish fed diet FPM50 while protein efficiency ratio was highest in fish fed diets FPM0 (1.22) and lowest (I.03) in fish fed diet FPM50.Highest value of packed cell volume (36.33%) was in fish fed diet FPM25 while the lowest value (33.00%) was recorded in fish fed diet FPM75. From the above results therefore, yellow maize could be replaced with fermented pineapple peel meal at 75% level in the diet of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus without affecting fish growth, nutrient utilisation, protein digestibility and the blood profile.Keywords: Pineapple peel, Nile tilapia, Digestibility, blood profil