Effects of Total Replacement of Fishmeal with Spirulina Powder and Soybean Meal on Juvenile Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum)

Abstract

Juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were fed diets in which fishmeal was totally replaced by mixtures of Spirulina powder and soybean meal. Three experimental diets were formulated with 75% Spirulina and 25% soybean meal, 50% Spirulina and 50% soybean meal, and 25% Spirulina and 75% soybean meal. A commercial diet and a diet with 100% fishmeal served as controls. Diets were fed to triplicate groups of 10 juveniles with an initial weight of 6.8±0.4 g for 50 days. At the end of the experiment, growth performance, oxygen consumption, nitrogen and phosphorus excretion, protein digestibility, and serum protein content and lysozyme activity were evaluated. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. Growth performance was not significantly affected by the experimental diets, but values tended to be lower as the level of dietary soybean meal increased. Among the experimental diets, the 75% Spirulina/25% soybean diet produced the best growth performance. Further, in fish fed this diet, the apparent coefficient of digestibility of protein was higher than 98% (as with all diets), oxygen consumption was lower and lysozyme activity was higher than in fish fed other replacement diets, and dissolved phosphorus and phosphorus in feces were similar or lower than in the controls. The present research shows the possibility of using mixtures of Spirulina powder and soybean meal as total substitutes of fishmeal in diets for juvenile rainbow trout.