Benefits and applications of Moringa oleifera as a plant protein source in Aquafeed: A review

By H. Abdel‐Latif, Mohamed M. Abdel-Daim, Mustafa Shukry, J. Nowosad, D. Kucharczyk. Aquaculture, 2021

114 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract The rapid expansion of the aquaculture industry, the global shortage of fish meal (FM) supplies from fisheries and the continuous demand for FM as a primary protein source in aquafeeds lead to increase the urgent necessity to find new FM alternatives. Plant protein sources have gained significant importance among aquaculture farmers and nutritionists because of their availability, eco-friendly, relative sustainability, environmentally safe, and relatively lower prices than FM protein. Extensive studies have been conducted to better assess the efficiency of plant protein sources as a partial or complete substitution of dietary FM in aquafeeds. From these sources, Moringa oleifera has been widely used. It is universally known as “the miracle tree” because of its high nutritional values and unique composition of phytochemicals, such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, carotenoids, alkaloids, tannins, lectins and terpenoids. These phytochemicals possess numerous advantageous properties such as antioxidant, hepatoprotective, antimicrobial and immune-stimulant characteristics. This review article describes the nutritional features of M. oleifera with a special emphasis on the current research findings on the possibility of including different forms of M. oleifera in diets to replace dietary FM protein in the diets of several fish species. It also evaluates its effects on the growth parameters, feed utilisation indices, and proximate body composition of fish. The haemato-biochemical parameters, hepato-renal functions, immune responses, and antioxidative capacity of fish fed M. oleifera-based diets are also assessed. The data will help to provide new perceptions and references for future research interests and aquaculture production.

Subfields: Aquatic Science, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2f82300256a82430be33fc1ec6a81c1f1305ffa7