Moringa oleifera

Am, Suleiman, Am, Orire, Soe, Sadiku & Gg, Bake, 2023, Growth performance, nutrient utilization and survival rate of Clarias gariepinus fed varied inclusion of processed Moringa oleifera diets, International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies 11 (1), pp. 36-40 : 37

Processing of Moringa oleifera

M. oleifera fresh leaves were procured from Kure Market, Along Dutsen Kura Road, Minna, Nigeria. Sellers were targeted early in the morning prior to their arrival at the market to ensure fresh leaves were obtained. They were taken to the Laboratory of the Department of Water Resources, Aquaculture and Fisheries Technology ( WAFT), Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. The leaves were then detached manually from the branches, thoroughly washed to remove the dirt and prevent deterioration of phytochemicals as observed by Ochang et al., 2015; Sahira Banu & Cathrine, 2015 [9, 10]. They were drained properly and air dried at room temperature to prevent nutrient loss for seven (7) days (Suleiman et al., 2018) [11, 12]. The leaves were reduced to smaller quantities using pistle and mortar and further fed into electrical motorised hammer mill, milled into fine powder, package in polythene and stored at -4 °C prior to usage (Suleman et al., 2018) [15].