Muscle amino acid profiles of eleven species of aquacultured animals and their potential value in feed formulation

Abstract

The complete quantitative essential amino acid (EAA) requirements of aquacultured animals are largely unknown except for a handful of species. This is problematic because formulation of least-cost diets for target animals demands precise knowledge of EAA requirements. One way of approximating EAA requirements is to use correlations between whole-body and/or muscle EAA profiles using essential to total EAA ratios (A/E ratios). This method requires a reference, quantified EAA requirement, usually lysine (Lys). To systematically evaluate the A/E ratio method, muscle AA profiles were measured in 10 species of teleost and whiteleg shrimp. In fish, Lys represented the dominant muscle EAA measured, ranging between 7.06 and 9.58 g/100 g protein, whereas, in shrimp, arginine (Arg) was quantified as the principal EAA. For non-EAA, glutamate (Glu) and glutamine were consistently the NEAA recorded at highest levels whereas, in shrimp, Glu + Gln was highest followed by aspartate (Asp) plus asparagine (Asn). Except for Arg, which was twice that of fish (P < 0.05), whiteleg shrimp expressed similar muscle A/E profiles. Strength of relationship between muscle EAA levels and known requirements were all strongly and positively correlated for non-salmonid species. When using Lys as the reference EAA there were few semblances between measured and estimated EAA requirements.