~ 1418 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2019; 7(4): 1418-1421 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2019; 7(4): 1418-1421 © 2019 JEZS Received: 19-05-2019 Accepted: 23-06-2019 Dilip Kumar Singh ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Panch Marg, Off. Yari Road, Versova, Andheri (West), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Subodh Gupta ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Panch Marg, Off. Yari Road, Versova, Andheri (West), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India NP Sahu ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Panch Marg, Off. Yari Road, Versova, Andheri (West), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India PP Srivastava ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Panch Marg, Off. Yari Road, Versova, Andheri (West), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Parimal Sardar ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Panch Marg, Off. Yari Road, Versova, Andheri (West), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Ashutosh D Deo ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Panch Marg, Off. Yari Road, Versova, Andheri (West), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Md Aklakur ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Panch Marg, Off. Yari Road, Versova, Andheri (West), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Correspondence Subodh Gupta ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Panch Marg, Off. Yari Road, Versova, Andheri (West), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Chemical composition of Berseem ( Trifolium alexandrinum ) leaf meal and leaf protein concentrate Dilip Kumar Singh, Subodh Gupta, NP Sahu, PP Srivastava, Parimal Sardar, Ashutosh D Deo and Md Aklakur Abstract Trifolium alexandrinum is commonly called as Berseem. It has been used to prepare berseem leaf meal (BLM) and leaf protein concentrate (BLPC). Proximate analysis revealed that the crude protein level in BLM and BLPC were 23.98% and 41.67% respectively. Level of anti-nutritional factor especially saponin content in BLM and BLPC were found to be 0.91% and 0.71% respectively. The alkaloids were higher in BLPC (5.55%) and BLM (3.46%). It has been recorded that saponin content reduced to 0.40% in BLM on 24 hours of water soaking. Evidence from the present study suggests that BLM and BLPC can be used as a good protein source in aquafeed. Keywords: Antinutritional factor, berseem leaf meal, berseem leaf protein concentrate 1. Introduction The aquaculture has shifted from traditional non-fed to feed based practices. It has led to increasing demand for feed ingredients. Feed contribute about 70% of the total operational costs in aquaculture. Cost of formulation is determined mostly by primary protein source such as fish meal (Average inclusion level of 24% in the diets). The raised protein based ingredient price is increasing day by day and feed industry is facing problem due to increased cost, shortages and conflict of demand with human consumption. Therefore, industry is searching for new ingredients and for exploration of the use of unconventional ingredients in fish feeds. However, recent price trends indicated that the price of rice bran, oil cakes, and soybean meal are increasing day by day. Hence, the need to find out an alternative source of rice bran, oil cakes, and soybean meal for making the aquaculture sector economically viable. Plants leaf meal is emerging as the cheapest sources of protein and energy. It is considered as a potential alternative in future and will reduce the cost of fish feed. Many studies have been conducted on leaf meals such as Cassava leaf meal [18] , Alfalfa leaf meal [24] , Alfalfa leaf protein concentrate [7] , Alfalfa meal [4] , Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal [6] , Peanut leaf meal [10] , Sweet potato leaf meal [2] etc. in the diet of various herbivores and carnivores fishes. Berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum) leaf meal is a new potential ingredient in fish feeds, and it contains a high amount of crude protein. Berseem is one of the oldest cultivated forage, domesticated in Egypt and later introduced into many other parts of the world [13] . It is now widespread in irrigation regions of the west and south Asia. Among the berseem growing countries, India has the highest cultivated area of around 2 million hectors, followed by Egypt (1.1 million hector) and Pakistan (0.71 million hectors) [17] . Berseem is a high-quality forage characterized by a high concentration of nutrients, protein (15-25%), minerals (11-19%) and carotene [8, 22] and the dry matter digestibility in ruminants is 70% [17] . Author [23] found that the nutritive value of Berseem leaves (% DM basis) is crude protein- 23.36%, ether extract-3.16%, crude fibre- 17.04% and total ash- 19.19%. The inclusion of this leaf in the diets of animals such cattle [14] , pigs [21] and poultry [3] since a long time. Recently in Tilapia, berseem has been proved that @ 5-10% inclusion in fish feed diet had shown good growth with high protein efficiency ratio (PER) as compared to control [12] . Author [20] substituted a fish meal with Amaranthus hybridus leaf protein concentrate (ALPC) in the diet of O. niloticus and found that ALPC replaced up to 80% of fishmeal without adverse effect on fish growth. Considering the above facts, the present study was aimed to analyse the chemical composition of Berseem