TITLE:
Poultry By-Product Meals as Partial Fish Meal Replacement Yielded Higher Somatic Growth in Alsatian Charr (Salvelinus alpinus X fontinalis) than Pork or Vegetable-Based Fish Meals
AUTHORS:
Martin J. Kainz, Hannes H. Hager, Eduard Schneeberger
KEYWORDS:
Alternative Protein Sources, Feed Formulation, Salmonids, Muscle Lipids, Fillet Composition
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Animal Sciences,
Vol.8 No.3,
June
26,
2018
ABSTRACT: Freshwater salmonids gain increasing popularity as
diet fish and are an important dietary source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty
acids (PUFA) for humans. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of
alternative feeds from domestic sources on fish growth and lipid composition of
the sparctic Alsatian charr (Salvelinus alpinus X fontinalis),
commonly used in freshwater aquaculture in Europe.
In this fish feeding experiment, we used a control feed (32% fish meal; feed
F1) and experimental diets containing generally only half the
amount of fish meal, which was replaced in equal parts by poultry (F2), two
different pork by-product meals (F3 and F4), plant-based feeds (F5), or by a feed containing 25% fish and 15% poultry meal
(F6) that had a similar caloric value compared to the other feeds. Six hundred
charrs of
similar initial weight (ca. 90 g) were randomly distributed into 12 tanks
(50/tank) of 1.4 m3, supplied with subalpine spring water, and fed
one of the feeds. Fish biomass development was the highest in fish fed diet F6, followed by F1, F2, and F5. Pork by-product meals as
partial replacement of fish meal resulted on average in a 25% lower biomass
gain compared to charr feeding on poultry by-product meal (F6). The use of
poultry or pork by-product meals as partial fish meal replacements did not
significantly change the total lipids or fatty acids retained in these fish.
This study shows that these alternative feeds, with similar lipid sources, had no
significant effect on the fatty acid composition in Alsatian charr, however, poultry by-product meal as
partial replacement of marine fish meal clearly enhanced charr biomass by 15%
relative to conventional fish meals.