STUDIES ON THE NUTRIENT AVAILABILITIES OF FEED INGREDIENTS IN ISRAELI CARP (Cyprinus carpio)

Digestibilities of nutrients and energy are among the most important parameters to be determined in feed evaluation research. The apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC) of protein, total carbohydrate (TCHO), fat, energy and amino acids were determined for 14 common feed ingredients using chromic oxide as external indicator with Israeli carp (Cyprinus carpio). The ingredients tested were; corn, corn starch, gelatinized starch, wheat middling, wheat grade inferior, corn gluten meal, rapeseed meal (solvent extracted), soybean meal (solvent extracted), blood meal (drum dried), feather meal(hydrolyzed), file fish meal (flame dried), sardine fish meal (steam dried), sardine fish meal (flame dried) and brewers yeast (dehydrated). The overall ADC values were high in Israeli carp showing high capacity to digest their feed ingredients irrespective of plant or animal sources. In addition the ADC of plant protein was high enough to support the successful supplementation of fish meal with other plant proteins.