Inclusion of Distillers Dried Grain as Partial Replacement of Wheat Flour and Soybean Meal in the Diet of Juvenile Abalone Haliotis discus hannai

Abstract

An 8-week feeding experiment was conducted to determine the influence of dietary distillers dried grain (DDG) on the growth and body composition of juvenile abalone Haliotis discus hannai. Five diets were formulated to contain 0% (DDG0), 15% (DDG15), 30% (DDG30), 45% (DDG45), and 60% (DDG60) DDG, and three replicate groups of abalone (average body weight: 3.6 ± 0.21 g) were fed one of the experimental diets at a feeding rate of 5% body weight per day once daily (17:00 h) for 8 weeks. Survival, shell length, and shell width of juvenile abalone were not affected by dietary DDG levels (P > 0.05). Weight gains of juvenile abalone fed DDG15 and DDG30 diets were not different compared to DDG0, but abalone fed DDG45 and DDG60 diets gained less weight than those fed DDG0 (P 0.05). The results of this experiment suggest that DDG is a good replacement for wheat flour and soybean meal, and can be used up to 30% in the diet to maintain the growth performance of the juvenile abalone.