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¹ University of Maiduguri, Department of Fisheries, Maiduguri, Nigeria
² Edo State University, Department of Biological Sciences, Uzairue, Edo State, Nigeria DOI : 10.4194/AFS134 - The study investigated the nutritional suitability Boscia senegalensis (Aizen) as alternative for protein in the formulation of diet of fish diet. The seeds were subjected to different processing methods to reduce levels of the most important antinutritional factors (ANFs) in the seeds. Standard methods of analysis were used for determination of anti-nutrients and proximate compositions of the processed seeds. Analyzed anti-nutritional factors of the differently processed B. senegalensis seeds indicated that soaking was the best in reducing the anti-nutrients with lowest levels of Saponin (2.10 m/g), Phytic acid (0.10 mg/g), Flavonoids (72.8 mg/g), Tanin (0.6 mg/g) and Alkaloids (1.02 mg/g). Proximate analysis showed that crude protein (CP) composition of the differently processed Boscia senegalensis seed ranged from 28.48 – 31.50%. Soaked sample had the highest CP (31.50%) while the boiled sample was the lowest (28.48%). Decreased lipid and fibre contents were observed in the boiled, fermented and the soaked seeds respectively. The study recommends soaking as best treatment for B. senegalensis seeds while proximate analysis revealed that treated B. senegalensis seed could be good alternative source of protein for fish feed formulation. Keywords : B. senegalensis Processing methods Antinutrients Proximate composition