Malays. Appl. Biol. (2017) 46(2): 35-40
NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION AND QUALITY OF AFRICAN
CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus) FED WITH Melaleuca cajuputi
LEAVES EXTRACTS AS A NATURAL FEED ADDITIVE
KARIM, N.U.1,2*, MOHD KHAIRUL SAHIMI, M.B.2 and HASSAN, M.2
1School of Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu,
21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
2Institute of Tropical Aquaculture (AQUATROP), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu,
21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
*Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Accepted 14 April 2017, Published online 27 June 2017
ABSTRACT
African catfish, Clarias gariepinus were treated as; controls (fed with commercial feed); T1, (fed with 5 mg kg-1 Melaleuca leaves extract formulated in commercial feed); and T2 (fed with 10 mg kg-1 Melaleuca leaves extract formulated in commercial feed) and fed twice daily for 21 days. The effects of the treatments on nutritional composition, microbiological and physicochemical quality of the catfish were analysed. The nutritional composition of the catfish fed with Melaleuca leaves extract formulated in commercial feed were not significantly modified (p>0.05). However, lipid and fibre content in T2 catfish showed a significantly (p<0.05) higher composition compared to the controls. The total bacteria load of T2 were successfully reduced (p<0.05) compared to T1 and the controls. Water holding capacity (WHC) of T2 catfish were recorded higher (77.93±6.95 %) but not significantly (p>0.05) different to the T1 and controls. pH value in all samples were recorded at range of 5.2-5.6. Meanwhile the colour value (L*, a* and b*) were not significantly (p>0.05) different in all samples. Feed additive of 10 mg kg-1 Melaleuca leaves extract are potential invention of aquafeed industry to be applied in aquaculture practice as it offers a good microbiological and physicochemical quality to cultured African catfish.
Key words: Clarias gariepinus, Melaleuca cajuputi, aquafeed, microbiological quality, physicochemical quality
