Effects of dietary lysine levels on growth performance, whole body composition and gene expression related to glycometabolism and lipid metabolism in grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idellus fry

Abstract

8 weeks rearing trial was designed to estimate the dietary lysine requirement, and evaluate the effects of dietary lysine on glycometabolism and lipid metabolism of grass carp fry. Six practical diets were prepared to feed 720 fish (initial weight 0.36 ± 0.00 g) with graded lysine levels (1.44%, 1.79%, 1.97%, 2.44%, 2.56% and 2.87%, dry diet). The results displayed that the final body weight (FBW), weight gain rate (WGR) and specific growth rate (SGR) were significantly improved by 2.44% dietary lysine, the same as feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR), compared with those of the control group (1.44% dietary lysine). Whole-body lipid contents diminished with raising dietary lysine levels from 1.44% to 2.44% and thereafter the content increased. Regarding glycometabolism, compared to the control diet, the 2.44% dietary lysine level significantly improved glycolysis by increasing glucokinase (GK) and pyruvate kinase (PK) mRNA levels, meanwhile the 2.87% dietary lysine level promoted gluconeogenesis by significantly increasing phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) mRNA levels. Glycogen synthase (GS) mRNA levels were independent of dietary treatment. For the lipolysis pathway, the 2.44% dietary lysine level caused the upregulation of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1 (CPT1) mRNA levels in the PPAR signaling pathway. Like the fatty acid synthase (FAS), acetyl-CoA carboxylase-1 (ACC1) and stearyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), the relative mRNA expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) related to lipid synthesis in the PPAR signaling pathway, was not remarkably influenced by dietary lysine levels. Furthermore, sterol-regulatory element binding protein-1 (SREBP1) mRNA levels in the intestine were not clearly affected among all the treatments. According to the broken-line regression analysis, based on the SGR and FCR, the optimum requirements of grass carp fry for dietary lysine were 2.39% and 2.13% of diet (6.34% and 5.65% of dietary protein), respectively. Overall, appropriate dietary lysine levels (2.44%) could improve the growth performance, reduce the whole-body lipid, promote glycolysis and lipolysis.