Investigating a relationship between body composition and spinal curvature in farmed adult New Zealand king salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha): A novel application of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

Assessing body composition and dietary phosphorus retention using Dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA): Application on juvenile rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum)

“…The strong relationships between DXA lean estimates and carcass determination in protein and water contents using analytical methods were previously reported in fish (Wood, 2004, Johnson et al, 2017, and Lovett et al., 2019), pigs (Pomar & Rivest, 1996; Soladoye et al., 2016) and chickens (Mitchell, Solomon, et al, 1997). Our study confirms that it is possible to accurately predict carcass crude protein content using DXA technology.…”

“…The interest in understanding body composition dynamics points to the importance of having adequate tools to estimate the chemical composition of whole‐body fish. Traditionally, dissection has been used to isolate lean, fat and bone tissue deposition (Soladoye et al., 2016), and chemical analyses of the carcass composition are still thoroughly employed (Johnson, Watts, Hammer, Nagy, & Watts, 2017; Wood, 2004; Lovett et al., 2019).…”

“…Its principle has been widely described in the literature (Brienne, Denoyelle, Baussart, & Daudin, 2001; Jebb, 1997) and its accuracy demonstrated in pigs (Pomar & Rivest, 1996; Scholz, Mitchell, Förster, & Pursel, 2007), broilers (Mitchell, Rosebrough, & Conway, 1997; Shim et al., 2012) and beef (rib carcasses; Mitchell, Solomon, & Rumsey, 1997). In fish, few studies have been conducted to validate DXA accuracy for estimation of whole‐body composition (Johnson et al, 2017; Lovett et al., 2019; Wood, 2004). These reports concluded that DXA appears to be a viable tool for assessment of whole‐body composition for king salmon, channel catfish and hybrid striped bass.…”

Radiographic characterisation of spinal curvature development in farmed New Zealand Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha throughout seawater production

“…While vertebral body anomalies are considered to arise via skeletogenic processes, deviations of the vertebral column which manifest without vertebral body alterations are thought to have a neuromuscular origin 15 . Indeed, Munday et al 22 found that the vertebral body structure of harvest-size NZ Chinook salmon with curvature was unchanged from those without, and Lovett et al 21 found no differences in vertebral mineral content between adult individuals affected and unaffected by curvature. In the current study, many affected individuals developed curvature alone and VAs did not consistently arise prior to curvature onset.…”

“…Since elevating rearing temperature is a common method of increasing growth rate in farmed finfish, and both high temperatures and fast growth are known drivers of spinal anomalies 1,45,46,[53][54][55][56][57] , the extent to which they, either solely or in combination, are risk factors for curvature development warrants further study. Previous studies have considered curvature in farmed Chinook salmon to have a primarily mechanical aetiology, namely imbalance and/or overload from excessive musculature [21][22][23] . Indeed, salmon are selectively bred for rapid acquisition of large muscle mass 15 and farmed Chinook salmon can triple in BW over the last six months of the SW cycle 20 .…”