Effects of Dietary Squid Soluble Fractions on Growth Performance and Feed Utilization in Juvenile Snakehead(Ophiocephalus argus) Fed Practical Diets

Abstract

An 8-week growth trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary squid soluble fractions (SSF) supplementation on growth performance and feed utilization of juvenile snakehead (Ophiocephalus argus). A fish meal diet (diet 1) with 36% fish meal (FM) was formulated. This diet was used as a control. The second diet (diet 2) was formulated by replacing 22% of the fish meal protein with poultry by-product meal based on amino acid profile of whole body of this fish. The other three diets were supplemented with 0.4% (diet 3), 0.8% (diet 4) and 1.2% (diet 5) SSF, respectively. Diets 1(control) 2, 3, 4, and 5 were isonitrogenous and isolipidic. No significant differences were observed in survival, feed intake (FI), weight gain rate (WGR), feed efficiency rate (FER) and protein productive value (PPV) between fish fed diets 1 and 2 (P>0.05). Furthermore, compared with fish fed the diet without SSF (diet 2), fish fed diets with 0.8 and 1.2% SSF (diet 4 and 5) demonstrated significantly enhanced WGR, FER, and PPV. These results suggest that 0.8% of dietary SSF is optimal for juvenile snakehead growth enhancement.