Effect of .BETA.-starch on growth, feed efficiency, and chemical components of liver, muscle, and blood of carp and red sea bream.

Abstract

In order to examine whether β-corn starch(raw starch) exhibits some nutritional effect to carp Cyprinus carpio and red sea bream Chrysophrys major, the fishes were reared on the diets containing α-starch (pregelatinized starch) orβ- starch at different levels for 6 weeks. Carp fed on the β-starch diets showed high growth, feed efficiency, and protein efficiency ratio (PER) as compared with the corresponding α-starch diet groups. On the other hand, the growth, feed efficiency, and PER of red sea bream fed on the 35% starch diet were higher in the β-starch diet group than in the α-starch diet group, though a reverse tendency was observed in the case of 15 and 25% starch diets. As for the percentage absorption of protein by carp and red sea bream, there was little difference between the β-stazch diet groups and the α-starch diet groups. However, both fishes showed a significantly low absorption of β-starch in contrast with the high absorption of α-starch. Besides this, the lower glycogen contents in liver and muscle of carp, and the lower glycogen and higher protein contents in liver of red sea bream were noticed in the β-starch diet groups, From these results, it was considered that the dietary β-starch exhibits some nutritional effect on carp and red sea bream.