The apparent total and nutrient digestibility of sal seed (Shorea robusta) meal in rohu, Labeo rohita (Hamilton), fingerlings

The apparent digestibility of both raw and treated (16 h soaked in water) deoiled salseed (Shorea robusta) meal by Labeo rohita (Hamilton) fingerlings was evaluated at 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60% levels of incorporation for each, using fish meal based feed as the reference diet. The tannin content from salseed meal could be reduced from 3.4% (in raw salseed meal) to 1.1, 0.9, 0.8 and 0.7% by soaking in water at room temperature for 30 min, 1 h, 2 h and 16 h, respectively. The digestibility of dry matter, protein, lipid and ash declined with increasing levels of inclusion of raw and soaked salseed meal. The diets containing soaked salseed meal resulted in better digestibility of nutrients at all levels of inclusion as compared to those obtained with diets that incorporate raw salseed meal. The results indicate that deoiled salseed meal can be incorporated upto a level of 30% in processed (16 h soaking in water) condition by reducing tannin.