Effect of fermented water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) on growth performance of fish

Abstract

Water hyacinth is an aquatic plant, which can grow rapidly along the water area with rich of nutrients. Mostly this plant can be the alternative ingredient for fish feed because it contains various nutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, secondary metabolites. However, because it plant-based, it rich of fiber and anti-nutritional factors such as tannins and phytic acids which can degrade the quality of fish feed and decrease the growth performance of fish if used in high concentration. Water hyacinth fermentation can be a solution to increase digestibility and nutrient contents. Several studies showed that growth performance of fish fed by fermented water hyacinth better than non-fermented. The concentration, which can apply as feed ingredient, ranged 20-40% replacement.