Abstract (EN):
An 84-day feeding and digestibility trial was conducted to evaluate the use of a pea seed derived meal in experimental diets for European sea bass fingerlings of initial weight 10 g. It was demonstrated that up to 40% pea seed meal inclusion was feasible in diets allowing for a 12% reduction in fish meal content and a 25% substitution of carbohydrate content without appreciable loss in growth performance of juvenile sea bass or diet utilization. The data showed no difference in final weight and specific growth rate measurements, and feed utilization was not compromised by the supplementation of the reference fish meal basal diet with pea seed meal. The diets were formulated to be essentially isonitrogenous and isocaloric and the results of the digestibility trial confirmed that the availability of the protein and energy was consistent between the different dietary treatments. However, carbohydrate digestibility was markedly affected by the nature of the pea seed meal starch matrix and contributed to a significant reduction in digestible energy. It was also evident that this affected carcass composition with respect to energy deposition (lipid content), but not overall growth of fish in the relatively short duration of this trial.
Language:
English
Type (Professor's evaluation):
Scientific
No. of pages:
10