Amino Acid Composition of Bamboo Materials (Bambusa vulgaris) as Potential Organic Fish Feed Supplements

Babatunde Taiwo Adesina, Ekemini Moses Okon, Babatunde Michael Falana, Enoch Olayiwola Oyawoye, Omobowale Adedayo Adesina, Solomon Ekpeshe Inape, Ayoola Olusegun Akinwole, Festus Idowu Adeosun and Akinniyi Oyetunji Ajibade

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the essential amino acid composition of three tropical bamboo materials (Bambusa vulgaris) to determine their nutritional suitability as integrated organic feed supplements. Materials and Methods: Bambusa vulgaris materials, including mature bamboo leaves, young bamboo shoots and bamboo charcoal, were analyzed in triplicate to determine their essential amino acid composition using an automatic amino acid analyzer (PARTEN DA 7250) in a randomized complete block design experiment. Results: Leucine was the most abundant amino acid obtained in the study, ranging from 0.42% in young bamboo shoots to 5.19% in bamboo charcoal. Leucine was significantly higher in bamboo charcoal compared to the other bamboo material samples. Arginine ranged from 2.55% in mature bamboo leaves to 3.94% in bamboo charcoal and was significantly higher in bamboo charcoal than the other materials. The values observed for lysine in the study indicated a range from 2.50% in mature bamboo leaves to 4.19% in bamboo charcoal. The highest significant value for lysine was observed in bamboo charcoal, followed by young bamboo shoots and mature bamboo leaves, which had similar significant values. Methionine was only observed in bamboo charcoal (1.50%), which also had the highest significant value. Conclusion: Among the bamboo materials used in this study, bamboo charcoal was the best source of lysine and methionine, suggesting its possible use as fish feed supplement to improve fish growth performance in aquaculture.

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