Abstract
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an essential fatty acid for marine carnivorous fish. Algal meal (AM), available as a new dietary DHA source, could completely replace dietary fish oil (FO). In this study, dietary FO was replaced with plant oil mixtures and AM in juvenile yellowtail Seriola quinqueradiata to investigate its effects on growth performance and fatty acid composition. The FO control diet was prepared with only pollack liver oil as the lipid source. For the non-FO diets, pollack liver oil was completely replaced with mixtures of canola oil and palm oil, with AM supplementation at 0% (AM0), 1% (AM1), 2% (AM2), 3% (AM3), and 4% (AM4). After completion of the 8-week feeding trial, the AM2 group showed significantly higher values for final body weight and feed efficiency than the AM0 group. No significant differences were observed in the other parameters of growth performance. Whole-body fatty acid composition reflected the dietary fatty acid composition in all dietary groups. These findings demonstrate that AM is useful as a DHA source in yellowtail aquaculture, thus contributing to a reduction in the use of FO in fish diets.
Highlights
Fish oil (FO) contains important essential fatty acids and is an energy source for aquaculture fishes
We aimed to investigate the utilization of commercial Algal meal (AM) and the possibility of a non-FO diet for yellowtail
The effects of the replacement of FO, as the dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) source, with plant oil mixtures containing increasing AM concentrations on growth performance and fatty acid composition were investigated in juvenile yellowtail
Summary
Fish oil (FO) contains important essential fatty acids and is an energy source for aquaculture fishes. The production of FO is unstable and limited (Turchini et al 2009; Hardy 2010), making it a restricting factor in aquaculture production. Sustainability and expansion of aquaculture requires the use of an alternative lipid source, such as various plant oils. The utilization of various alternative oils has been investigated in previous studies for many fishes (Turchini et al 2009; Hardy 2010). The price of plant oil has increased, similar to that of FO, and may further increase because of limited availability of arable land for food crops (Turchini et al 2009). Microalgae are ideal candidates to ensure stable and sustainable production of a dietary oil source for fish feed, despite the high production costs (Turchini et al 2009).
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