Quantitative requirements of aluminum and iron in the formulated diets and its interrelation with other minerals in young eel.

Abstract

Feeding study was conducted to determine the quantitative requrements of Al and Fe, and to examine the interrelationship with the other minerals in the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica. The experimental diets used were those based on white fish meal supplemented with 0, 15, 30, 50, 75, and 100μg/g of Al as aluminum chloride and 0, 100, 150, 200, 300, and 400μg/g of Fe as ferrous sulfate. The fish on diet supplemented with 15μg/g level of Al showed the best growth among all groups. In case of Fe, the low levels of Fe supplementation in diet resulted in higher growth rate and feed efficiency. On the other hand, the highest level of Al supplementary diet (100μg/g) and Fe supplementary diet (400μg/g) did not cause any side effect on growth. Among the groups treated with high dietary Fe, Zn and Mn contents in the bone decreased remarkably.