Effect of dehulling on the nutritive value of some leguminous seeds as protein sources for tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon, juveniles

Abstract

Feeding experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of dehulling on the nutritive value of cowpea and rice bean as protein sources for P. monodon juveniles. Diets were prepared by adding legumes to replace 15.6% of the total animal protein requirement. Defatted whole soybean served as the reference protein. Growth, survival rate, and apparent protein digestibility were the biological parameters examined. Dehulling significantly increased (P < 0.05) the apparent protein digestibility of rice bean but not of cowpea. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed among dietary treatments based on growth response and survival of the animals, and no correlation existed between growth and apparent protein digestibility. P. monodon given a dehulled-cowpea diet seemed to perform best while those fed a whole-rice-bean diet tended to register the poorest response. These results indicate that dehulling of legumes was partly responsible for the improvement in their nutritive value.