Dietary vitamin E requirement of the red drumSciaenops ocellatus

Abstract

A 12-week feeding trial was conducted to establish the minimum dietary vitamin E requirement of juvenile red drum by broken-line regression analysis. The semi-purified basal diet was supplemented with 10, 20, 30, 40, 60 or 80 IU vitamin E kg−1 as all-rac-α-tocopheryl acetate. Juvenile red drum were conditioned by feeding the basal diet for 8 weeks prior to the feeding trial to reduce whole-body vitamin E levels. Then, fish initially averaging 12.2 ± 0.4 g fish−1 (mean ± SD) were fed the experimental diets at a rate approaching apparent satiation for 12 weeks. Weight gain and feed efficiency responses of fish fed diets were significantly (P < 0.01) altered by the level of vitamin E supplementation but not strictly in a dose-dependent manner. Vitamin E concentrations in liver and plasma also were significantly (P < 0.001) influenced by dietary vitamin E level. Plasma ascorbic acid in fish fed the basal diet tended (P = 0.066) to be lower than in fish fed diets containing the various levels of vitamin E. In addition, fish fed the basal diet showed edema in the heart, while fish fed all other diets were normal. Fish fed 60 or 80 IU all-rac-α-tocopheryl acetate kg−1 diet had significantly higher respiratory burst of head kidney macrophages than fish fed all other diets, although dietary effects on hematocrit and neutrophil oxidative radical production were not significant. The minimum dietary vitamin E requirement of juvenile red drum was established based on broken-line regression of liver thiobarbituric acid reactive substances to be 31 mg all-rac-α-tocopheryl acetate kg−1 diet.