Application of the fish oil-finishing strategy in a lean marine teleost, tiger puffer (Takifugu rubripes)

Abstract

A feeding trial was conducted to test the efficacy of the fish oil-finishing strategy in a lean marine teleost, tiger puffer (average initial body weight, 19.50 g). During the 50-day growing-out period, fish was fed diets differing only in supplemented lipid source (6% of dry dietary matter), namely, fish oil (FO), tiger puffer liver oil (TO), linseed oil (LO), soybean oil (SO), rapeseed oil (RO), palm oil (PO), and beef tallow (BT). In the fish oil-fishing period, all the fish were fed diet FO for 30 days. The results showed that the fish oil-finishing strategy restored the muscle DHA content in terrestrially sourced oil (TSO)-based groups to be 82.8–91.6% of that in fish fed fish oil continuously. Compared to DHA, muscle EPA was less easily retained during the growing-out period, but more easily restored during the fish oil-finishing period. Compared to muscle, the LC-PUFA contents in liver of tiger puffer were much lower and more difficult to restore by the fish oil-finishing strategy. LO, RO and BT resulted in significant growth reduction than FO at the end of growing-out period, but this reduction no longer existed at the end of the fish oil-finishing period. Compensatory effects of fish oil re-feeding were also observed for LC-PUFA deposition. Very little difference was observed in fish proximate composition, somatic parameters, and muscle texture among dietary groups during the whole feeding period, but the lipid metabolism-related biochemical parameters in the serum were significantly affected by diet. Liver oil of farmed tiger puffer can be used a suitable and safe lipid source for diets of tiger puffer, and beef tallow seems a better dietary lipid source for tiger puffer than other TSO in terms of easy restoration of LC-PUFA and growth by the fish oil-finishing strategy. In conclusion, the fish oil-finishing strategy had high efficiency in restoring LC-PUFA and growth of tiger puffer previously fed TSO-based diets.