Effects of Dietary Lipid Sources and Essential Fatty Acids on the Growth and Body Composition of the Juvenile River Puffer Fish Takifugu obscurus

Abstract

We conducted an 8-week feeding trial to evaluate dietary lipid sources on the growth performance and body composition of juvenile river puffer fish Takifugu obscurus. Nine experimental diets were formulated with fishmeal as the major protein ingredients, providing 50% crude protein. The experimental diets contained either beef fallow (BF), soybean oil (SO), rapeseed oil (RO), or linseed oil (LO). Each of these diets was then supplemented or not with 0.5% n-3 HUFA (BFH, SOH, ROH, and LOH), resulting in a total of eight experimental diets. The control diet contained fish oil (FO) as the lipid source. Fish averaging 10.3±0.03 g were fed the experimental diets in randomly selected triplicate groups for 8 weeks. Weight gain and feeding efficiency of fish fed the FO and SOH diets were significantly higher than those of fish fed BF or RO (P<0.05), but these diets did not differ significantly from the other diets. The protein efficiency ratio of fish fed the SOH diet was significantly higher than that of fish fed the BF, SO, or RO diets (P<0.05), but these were not significantly different from the other diets. The specific growth rate of fish fed the FO and SOH diets was significantly higher than that of fish fed the BF diet (P<0.05). Whole body DHA and n-3 HUFA contents of fish fed the FO diet were significantly higher than those of fish fed the SO, RO, or LO diets (P<0.05), but were not significantly different from the other diets. These results indicate that soybean oil and linseed oil could replace up to 100% of fish oil in the diet containing 60% fishmeal for river puffer fish.

Genetic Differences in Natural and Cultured River Pufferfish Populations by PCR Analysis

“…However, despite their significant importance to fish conservation and systematic analysis, the reproductive, biochemical, and environmental aspects of river pufferfish species in Korea are unknown. Nevertheless, the pufferfish are distinct sitologically ( Kang et al, 2007 ), nutritionally ( Yoo & Bai, 2014 ; Yoo et al, 2014 ), ultrastructurally ( Kim et al, 2003 ), reproductively ( Chang et al, 1999 ; Kang et al, 2008 ), as well as environmentally ( Lee et al, 2004a ; Lee et al, 2004b ). However, few genetic or molecular studies have comparatively analyzed finfish with other invertebrates.…”