The effect of dietary feeding stimulants on growth performance of striped bass, Morone saxatilis, fed-a-plant feedstuff-based diet

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of a previously identified feeding stimulant (FS) mixture, which contained l-alanine, l-serine, inosine-5′-monophosphate and betaine, on growth performance of striped bass, fed-a-plant feedstuff-based diet. Three diets were fed to striped bass for a period of 6 weeks: a plant feedstuff-based basal, and the basal supplemented with either a low (2%) or a high (4%) level of the FS mixture (2% FS and 4% FS, respectively). A significant improvement in feed intake was observed for fish fed the 4% FS when compared to fish fed the basal diet after 4 weeks (P≤0.02) and this difference was increased after 6 weeks (P≤0.0009). Fish fed the 2% FS had significantly higher (P≤0.05) feed intake than fish fed the basal at 6 weeks, but lower feed intake (P≤0.05) than fish fed the 4% FS. Weight gain was significantly improved in fish fed the 4% FS when compared to fish fed the basal diet at 4 and 6 weeks (P≤0.02 and P≤0.0005, respectively), and when compared to fish fed the 2% FS at 6 weeks (P≤0.05). Feeding the 2% FS diet resulted in a significant increase in weight gain over fish fed the basal diet only at week 6 (P≤0.02) of the experiment. Feed conversion ratio was significantly improved in fish fed both levels of the FS mixture when compared to that of fish fed the basal diet at week 4 (P≤0.05) and remained significantly improved after 6 weeks of feeding (P≤0.03). These results indicate that using FS as a supplement in plant-based diets may be useful in improving feed acceptability and growth performance of cultured striped bass fed low cost, plant-based diets.