Effects of dried Mexican kale (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius) leaf meal in formula on the growth rate and survival rate of Nile tilapia (Oreocromis niloticus)

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of incorporating dried Mexican kale leaf powder into the diet on the growth performance of Nile tilapia. A completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was employed. Four experimental diets containing different levels of dried Mexican kale leaf powder were formulated: T1 = 0% (control), T2 = 9%, T3 = 14%, and T4 = 19%. The experiment was conducted from May to July 2023 at the Ban Tad Local Research Center, Udon Thani Rajabhat University. The results showed that Nile tilapia fed with diet T2 exhibited the highest survival rate (84.443%), followed by T3 (83.335%), T1 (83.333%), and T4 (83.110%), respectively. Moreover, tilapia fed with diet T2 had a specific growth rate (SGR) of 5.824%, which was comparable to T3 (5.827%) but higher than those fed the control diet (5.638%) and T4 (5.557%). In terms of feed conversion ratio (FCR), no significant differences were observed between the experimental diets and the control. Additionally, diets containing dried Mexican kale leaf powder reduced feed ingredient costs compared with the control diet. These findings suggest that the diet containing 14% dried Mexican kale leaf powder enhances survival and growth performance of Nile tilapia while reducing production costs.