112 Present address: 1 Research Assistant (nilushiparanamana @yahoo.com), 3 Professor (vajira@chem.ruh.ac.lk), Department of Chemistry, University of Ruhuna, 2 Senior lecturer (krg226@yahoo.com), Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture. In aquaculture industry, feed cost accounts for about 40 to 50% of the total operational cost (Shang 1992) and fishmeal is the major protein source used in many commercial fish feed preparation. Fish meal is known to contain essential amino acid (EAA) profile that is needed to meet the protein requirement of most fish species (Wilson et al. 1989) and is also a good source for vitamins and growth factors (Tacon 1993). However, the high cost of fish meal coupled with short supply has made the necessity to substitute it with alternative low cost ingredients. Plant proteins are potential ingredients as alternatives for fishmeal in fish feed preparation. Many plant sources are fairly rich in protein and contain favorable essential amino acid profiles, but they are deficient in one or more essential amino acids (Soltan et al. 2008). Some studies have emphasized that a mixture of plant protein sources is more appropriate to obtain adequate amino acid profile compared to the incorporation of a single plant protein sources (Watanabe et al. 1995, Regost et al. 1999). Most of the plant based protein sources contain anti-nutritional factors such as cyanide, saponin, phytic acid etc. (NRC 1993, Becker and Makkar 1999, Francis et al. 2001) and these compounds interfere in food utilization and negatively affect growth and other physiological activities of fish Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 85 (2): 212–215, February 2015/Article Nutritional and anti-nutritional contents of alternative plant feed ingredients for fish feed formulation N PARANAMANA 1 , K RADAMPOLA 2 and V P BULUGAHAPITIYA 1 University of Ruhuna, Matara 81 000 Sri Lanka Received: 12 September 2014; Accepted: 2 October 2014 ABSTRACT The present study evaluates the importance of plant materials as alternative feed ingredients for fish feed preparation. Commonly available plant materials i.e., sweet potato leaf meal, banana leaf meal, soybean leaf meal, salvinia leaf meal, papaw leaf meal, gliricidia leaf meal, habarala leaf meal and jack seed powder were subjected to proximate analysis and mineral analysis. Anti-nutrients such as saponin, phytic acid, cyanide and tannin were also analyzed. The crude protein content of the ingredients was ranged from 9.66 to 29.32 g/ 100 g and the crude lipid contents were recorded as 0.8 to 11.6 g/100 g. Crude fiber contents were between 2.2 and 53.05 g/100 g and ash contents ranged from 5.21 to 19.24 g/100 g. The ingredients had trace amounts of Na, K and P which ranged between 0.49 to 2.71 g/100 g. All the tested ingredients contained saponin (0.79 to 5.58 g/100 g), phytic acid (0.07 to 0.81 g/100 g), cyanide (10.82 to 24.17 mg/100 g) and tannin (2.19 to 9.04 g/100 g). The present study revealed that above ingredients contained nutrients in appreciable amounts and anti- nutrients in low levels and could be used for fish feed preparation. Further studies are needed to find the effect of those ingredients on fish growth. Key words: Anti nutrient analysis, Crude lipid, Crude protein, Plant based ingredients (Francis et al. 2001). Therefore, focussing on alternative plant ingredients which are nutritionally compatible, readily available and which are not used for human consumption and animal feed industry is important for development of fish feed industry. In Sri Lanka there are large numbers of plant based matter which are not currently used for any industrial use. Few examples of such plant based ingredients are plant leaves of banana ( Musa paradisiaca ), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), manioc (Manihot esculenta), fruit peels from canaries, molasses and baggases, sugar cane tops. However, at present only limited information is available on the utilization prospects of those alternative ingredients. Some countries such as India, Bangladesh have analyzed various ingredients to explore the possibility of using them as fish feed (Bhosale et al. 2010, Mahmud et al. 2012). To develop low cost, nutritious fish feed, information about the availability and proximate composition of locally available feed ingredients is essential. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional and anti- nutritional contents of locally available plant based ingredients to find their suitability as alternatives for fish meal in fish feed preparation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Plant materials: Leaves of Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato), Musa paradisiaca (banana), Glycine max (soybean), Salvinia molesta (salvinia), Carica papaya