title: Pelagic whole fish (Rastriobola argenteus) as a protein source for pigs.
abstract: Two trials were carried out to investigate the potential of small pelagic fish (Rastriobola argenteus) locally referred to as omena, as a protein supplement for pigs. In trial one, 12 growing pigs were fed on diets containing either soyabean meal or omena for 30 days. The average daily gains, daily feed intakes and feed to gain ratios were 814 g, 2.01 kg, 2.47 and 831 g, 1.98 kg, 2.38 for the soyabean meal and omena diets respectively. All these performance indicators were similar between the 2 dietary treatments. In the digestibility study involving weanling rats, the digestibility of dry matter was not affected by diet but that of protein and ash were different between the 2 diets (P < 0.05). The digestibilities of dry matter, crude protein and ash were 75.8, 66.0, 56.9 and 77.6, 71.3, 39.2 for soyabean meal and omena diets respectively. Rastriobola argenteus (omena) is a potential protein supplement for pigs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya.
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Tuitoek
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004435:Eating; D005396:Fish Products; D013025:Glycine max / Q000378:metabolism; D013552:Swine / Q000378:metabolism*; D015430:Weight Gain
chemical_list: D004044:Dietary Proteins