A total of 210 European seabass fry with an average body weight of 0.51 ± 0.03 g were divided into seven experimental treatments (three replicates per treatment). The seven experimental diets (45.64% CP) were formulated to contain synthetic astaxanthin (SA; 0.1 g kg−1), marigold flower meal (MFM; 0.2 g kg−1) or crab waste meal (CM; 10 g kg−1), with or without sodium taurocholate (ST; 0.4 g kg−1); the control diet contained no supplementation. The experiment was conducted for 8 weeks. The results show that seabass fry fed the diets containing different sources of carotenoids, especially with ST, demonstrated higher growth efficiency, survival (%), feed efficiency, protein and ether extract contents of fish body. The best results were found with DietMFM+ST. Whole‐body carotenoid levels increased significantly with all supplementation treatments; the highest level was observed with SA, followed by fish fed DietMFM and DietCM, especially with ST co‐supplementation. Moreover, thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances were significantly reduced in fish fed the diets containing different sources of carotenoids compared to the control diet. The total antioxidant status significantly increased in fish fed DietSA and DietCM alone or with ST compared to the control group. In conclusion, these results reveal that DietMFM+ST is the most suitable treatment for improving growth, feed efficiency, and the protein and ether extract contents of seabass fry compared to other sources of carotenoids. The best oxidant/antioxidant balance and carotenoid content were achieved using SA, CM and MFM with ST supplementation.

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This study investigated the effects of dietary orange peel (OP) on growth performance, feed utilization, antioxidant activity, intestinal microbiota and liver histology of Gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) larvae (0.32 ± 0.01 g/fish) (mean ± SD). Fish fed iso‐nitrogenous (480 g/kg protein) and iso‐energetic (23 MJ/kg) diets supplemented with OP at concentrations of 0, 1, 3 or 5 g/kg diet, for 60 days. Growth performance and feed utilization parameters were significantly improved by the elevation of dietary OP level, and the optimum level was 5 g/kg diet. The maximum activity of the total antioxidant capacity, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, alkaline phosphatase enzyme and malondialdehyde in the liver was found at 5.5, 4.6, 3.4, 2.9, 3.7 and 3.8 g OP/kg diet, respectively. All tested bacteria (Staphylococcus spp., Vibrio spp. and Salmonela spp) and total bacterial count decreased significantly in the gut of fish fed high levels of OP (3.0 or 5.0 g/kg). No differences were found in the liver histo‐architecture among treatments after 60 days feeding on OP diets. In summary, dietary OP improved growth rate, antioxidant activity and intestinal microbiota of S. aurata larvae with an optimum range from 2.9 to 5.5 g/kg diet.

Fishmeal is the most expensive feedstuff in the aquafeed and one of the most environmentally limiting factor of aquaculture development. Therefore, the search for alternative protein sources is a continuous process. The present feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of replacing fishmeal with zooplankton biomass meal (ZBM) on the growth performance, nutrient utilization, intestine, and liver histological changes of grey mullet, Mugil cephalus (initial weight of 0.10 ± 0.01 g). Five isoproteic (35% crude protein) and isolipidic (8% crude lipid) diets were formulated as the control diet (Z0) and the other four diets (Z25, Z50, Z75, and Z100), where 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of fishmeal was replaced by ZBM, respectively. After 60 days of feeding, the final weight, weight gain, and daily growth index of the grey mullet fed the Z100 diet were higher than those fed the control diet (p < 0.05). In addition, the better values of feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio and lipid efficiency ratio were recorded in the fish fed with the Z100 diet. Additionally, the intestinal villus length, crypts depth, and muscle thickness were significantly improved with ZBM inclusion (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, there were no histopathological changes observed on the liver when compared with the control group. From the economic point of view, dietary substitution of fishmeal by ZBM (Z100) reduced the cost of diet formulation by 18% and the price per kg weight gain by about 40%. Overall, according to the findings of this study, substituting fishmeal with ZBM up to 100% could improve growth performance, feed utilization, gut health status, and profit ability of rearing M. cephalus juveniles.