We examined the effect of substituting squid meal and macroalgae with soybean meal in a commercial diet on the growth and body composition of juvenile abalone Haliotis discus hannai. We randomly distributed 2310 juvenile abalone into 33 rectangular plastic containers and fed them five experimental diets in triplicate as follows. The control diet (Con) consisted of 12% squid meal, 8% corn gluten and 20% soybean meal as protein source, wherein 10% α-starch, 20% wheat flour, and 5% dextrin were carbohydrate source. The experimental diets, 50% squid meal (SM50), 50% squid meal and 50% macroalgae (SM50+MA50), and 100% squid meal and 50% macroalgae (SM100+MA50) were substituted with the same respective amounts of soybean meal. The fifth experimental diet consisted of the control diet plus 1% diatom powder (DP). We prepared two domestic (Domestic A and B) and two imported (China and Japan) abalone feeds. Finally, we prepared Undaria and sea tangle. We found that the weight gain of abalone fed the Con, DP, and China and Japan diets was significantly greater than that of abalone fed Undaria and sea tangle. We conclude that the substituting squid meal and macroalgae with soybean meal in abalone feed has limited benefits, but supplementing diets with 1% diatom powder is effective in improving weight gain.
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