Effect of replacing fish meal with soybe (2)
Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307 – 1313
www.elsevier.com/locate/aqua-online
Effect of replacing fish meal with soybean meal on growth, feed
utilization and carcass composition of cuneate drum
(Nibea miichthioides)
Yan Wang a,⁎, Ling-Jun Kong a , Cui Li a , Dominique P. Bureau b
a
b
Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology and Fish Nutrition, Shanghai Fisheries University, Shanghai, China
Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
Received 12 July 2006; received in revised form 29 August 2006; accepted 29 August 2006
Abstract
The effect of replacing fish meal with soybean meal (SBM) in practical feeds for cuneate drum was evaluated in an 8-week net
pen trial. The cuneate drum fingerlings (initial body weight 29.8 ± 1.3 g fish− 1) were fed six isonitrogenous and isocaloric feeds
containing 39% digestible protein and 16 MJ kg− 1 digestible energy. The control feed was formulated to contain 40% herring meal,
whereas in the other five feeds SBM was included at 11.3, 22.5, 33.8, 45.0 and 56.3% to replace 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100% of the fish
meal. There were no significant differences in feed intake between fish fed the control feed and feeds in which SBM replaced 20 to
80% of the fish meal, but fish fed the fish meal free feed had higher feed intake than the other treatments. Weight gain linearly
declined with the decrease of fish meal level. Final body weight (FBW) of fish fed the feeds in which SBM replaced 20% of the
fish meal did not significantly differ from fish fed the control feed. Replacing 40 to 100% of the fish meal resulted in lower FBW
and nitrogen retention efficiency (NRE), and higher feed conversion ratio (FCR) than those of fish fed the control feed. Fish fed the
feeds in which SBM replaced 60 to 100% of the fish meal had lower condition factor and hepatosomatic index than those of fish
fed the control feed. No significant differences in carcass protein content was found among the treatments, but fish fed the feeds in
which SBM replaced 60 to 100% of the fish meal had higher moisture and lower lipid content in carcass than those of fish fed the
control feed. Results of the present study appear to indicate that cuneate drum has a limited ability to utilize SBM as a protein
source in practical feeds.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cuneate drum; Nibea miichthioides; Soybean meal; Growth; Nitrogen retention efficiency
1. Introduction
Fish meal is an excellent but costly protein source for
fish feed formulation, and is generally incorporated at
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 65710764; fax: +86 21
65711600.
E-mail address: wangyan@shfu.edu.cn (Y. Wang).
0044-8486/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.aquaculture.2006.08.045
50% in commercial feeds for carnivorous fish species
(Hertrampf and Piedad-Pascual, 2000). Reducing fish
meal level is key to reducing feed cost for commercial fish
farming and ensuring sustainability of this enterprise. It is
essential to evaluate the suitability of alternate plant and
animal protein meals as dietary protein sources for marine
carnivorous fish species. Soybean meal (SBM) is a widely
available, economical protein source with relatively high
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Y. Wang et al. / Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307–1313
digestible protein and energy contents and good amino
acid profile (Hertrampf and Piedad-Pascual, 2000). The
use of soybean proteins as a dietary protein has been
examined for many commercial important fish species,
such as rainbow trout (Cho et al., 1974; Dabrowski et al.,
1989; Pongmaneerat and Watanabe, 1992; Oliva-Telesa
et al., 1994; Kaushik et al., 1995; Refstie et al., 1997;
Bureau et al., 1998), channel catfish (Wilson and Poe,
1985; Webster et al., 1992; Peres et al., 2003), tilapia
(Shiau et al., 1989, 1990), red drum (Reigh and Ellis,
1992; McGoogan and Gatlin, 1997), Atlantic salmon
(Refstie et al., 1998) and Asian seabass (Boonyaratpalin
et al., 1998; Tantikitti et al., 2005).
Cuneate drum is a carnivorous sciaenid species native to
near-shore waters of the China Sea, and has been widely
cultured, with raw fish as feed, in net pens along the coast of
the South and East China Sea. Feeding raw fish results in
high feed costs and a high amount of nitrogenous waste.
Feed formulae that have high nutritive value, are costeffective, and produce less waste outputs are needed to
improve economical and environmental sustainability of
cuneate drum culture. The use of rendered animal protein
ingredients, such as meat and bone meal (MBM), poultry
by-product meal (PBM) and feather meal (FEM), as fish
meal replacement in cuneate drum feeds has been
determined (Wang et al., 2006b), but the ability of cuneate
drum to utilize SBM remains not to be evaluated.
Knowledge concerning fish meal replacement by SBM
for sciaenid species is still limited (Reigh and Ellis, 1992;
Davis et al., 1995; McGoogan and Gatlin, 1997). The
present study aimed at evaluating the effect of replacing fish
meal with SBM on growth, feed utilization and carcass
composition of cuneate drum reared in net pens.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Feed formulation and pellet preparation
Defatted (solvent extracted) soybean meal was
purchased from the East Sea Crop and Oil Corporation
(Shanghai, China). Rendered animal by-product ingredients, including PBM and blood meal (BM), was
supplied by National Rendered Association (Hong
Kong, SAR). Other feed ingredients were obtained
from Xinnong Feed Company (Shanghai, China). The
proximate composition and gross energy content of the
ingredients are shown in Table 1.
A practical feed (39% digestible protein and 16 MJ
kg− 1 digestible energy) containing 400 g kg− 1 herring
meal which had previously been demonstrated to support
good growth performance (Wang et al., 2006a) was used
as the control. In the other five feeds, 20, 40, 60, 80 or
Table 1
Proximate composition (%) and gross energy content (MJ kg− 1) of the
ingredients
Ingredients
Dry
matter
Crude
protein
Crude
lipid
Ash
Gross
energy
Herring meal
Poultry by-product meal
Blood meal
Soybean meal
Cottonseed meal
Wheat middlings
91.5
94.5
91.9
89.1
89.2
87.2
73.3
71.0
96.4
53.5
52.2
19.1
9.2
13.0
1.3
1.4
0.3
3.3
18.7
13.9
2.4
6.4
7.2
3.4
18.7
23.2
25.1
17.4
17.3
17.1
Crude protein, lipid, ash and gross energy are expressed on a dry
matter basis.
100% of the fish meal was replaced by SBM. These five
additional feeds were formulated to be isonitrogenous
(39% DP) and isocaloric (16 MJ kg− 1 DE). All the feeds
were supplemented with 0.5% DL-methionine since this
amino acid was predicted to be the first limiting amino
acid. The formulation, proximate composition and gross
energy of the test feeds are shown in Table 2, and amino
acid profile of the herring meal, SBM and test feeds in
Table 3.
The dry ingredients were ground with a hammer
grinder, and mixed with a 30-l Hobart kitchen mixer. Slow
sinking pellets (diameter 4 mm and length 8 mm) were
made using a laboratory-scale, single screw extruder
(extruding temperature 100 °C to 120 °C). The pellets
were dried at room temperature.
2.2. Fish, husbandry and feeding
An 8-week feeding trial was carried out in net pens in
Shenao Bay, Shantou (Guangdong, China). Cuneate drum
(Nibea miichthioides) fingerlings were obtained from a
local marine fish hatchery. The fish were reared in net
pens (3 m × 3 m × 2 m) and were gradually weaned from
raw fish onto the control feed. Two weeks prior to the start
of the feeding trial, 800 fish were selected and acclimated
to 20 experimental pens (1 m × 1 m × 1.5 m) at 40 fish per
pen, and fed the control feed twice daily. At the start of the
trial, the acclimated fish were deprived of feed for 24 h,
pooled, and 18 groups of 30 fish each were group
weighed, and randomly sorted into 18 experimental pens.
Each feed treatment had 3 replicates. Eight sub-samples of
3 fish each were collected from the remaining acclimated
fish for the determination of initial carcass composition.
The sampled fish were frozen at −20 °C until analysis.
During the trial, the fish were hand fed at 08:00 and
16:00 h daily following the method described in Wang et al.
(2006a) except days of strong waves or high temperature.
Dead fish were recorded and weighed for calculating feed
conversion ratio (FCR). Water temperature, measured
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Y. Wang et al. / Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307–1313
Table 2
Formulation, proximate composition (%) and energy content (MJ kg− 1)
of the test feeds
Ingredients
Control
Herring meal
40.0
Soybean meal
Blood meal
0.1
Poultry by-product meal 15.0
Cottonseed meal
5.0
Wheat middlings
27.2
CaHPO4
1.5
α-starch
2.0
DL-methionine
0.5
Fish oil
6.7
Vitamin premix
1.0
Mineral premix
1.0
Nutrient and energy contents
Dry matter
88.0
Crude protein
43.4
Crude lipid
11.3
Ash
11.0
Gross energy
19.0
DDM
70.6
DP
39.0
DE
16.7
DP/DE
23.4
S1
S2
S3
S4
32.0
11.3
1.0
15.0
5.0
22.3
1.5
2.0
0.5
7.4
1.0
1.0
24.0
22.5
1.2
15.0
5.0
18.3
1.5
2.0
0.5
8.0
1.0
1.0
16.0
33.8
3.0
15.0
5.0
12.5
1.5
2.0
0.5
8.7
1.0
1.0
8.0
45.0
3.5
15.0
5.0
8.0
1.5
2.0
0.5
9.5
1.0
1.0
87.7
43.6
11.7
10.2
19.3
70.3
38.9
16.6
23.5
88.3
42.9
11.9
9.5
19.5
69.7
38.4
16.4
23.4
87.6
43.8
10.9
8.6
19.5
69.6
38.8
16.4
23.7
88.3
43.2
11.5
7.7
19.8
69.1
38.5
16.3
23.5
ingredients, feeds and fish were ground with a laboratory
mill. Moisture, crude protein, crude lipid, ash, and gross
energy content of the ingredients, feeds and fish were
analyzed using the methods described in Wang et al.
(2006a). Amino acids of the herring meal, SBM and
feeds were analyzed using a SYCOM S-433D amino
acid analyzer (SYKAM, German).
S5
56.3
6.2
15.0
2.4. Data calculations and statistical analysis
6.5
1.5
2.0
0.5
10.0
1.0
1.0
Feed intake, specific growth rate (SGR), weight gain
(WG), FCR and nitrogen retention efficiency (NRE),
condition factor (CF), and hepatosomatic index (HSI)
were calculated as follows:
Feed intakeð% d−1 Þ ¼ 100 I=½ðW0 þ Wt Þ=2 t
88.3
44.0
10.8
6.7
19.9
70.4
38.2
16.6
23.0
SGRð% d−1 Þ ¼ ½lnðWt =Nt Þ−lnðW0 =N0 Þ=t
WGðgÞ ¼ ðWt =Nt −W0 =N0 Þ
FCRðdry feed gain−1 Þ ¼ I=ðWt −W0 þ Wd Þ
Vitamin premix and mineral premix were described in Wang et al.
(2006a).
Digestible dry matter (DDM), digestible protein (DP) and digestible
energy (DE ) were calculated as described in Wang et al. (2006a).
Crude protein, lipid, ash, gross energy, DP and DE are expressed on a
dry matter basis and given as means (n = 2).
NREð%Þ ¼ 100 ðWt CNt −W0 CN0 þ Wd
CN0 Þ=ðI CNf Þ
CFðg cm−3 Þ ¼ 100 Ws =L3s
HSIð%Þ ¼ 100 Wl =Ws
daily, was 25 °C to 32 °C, and salinity, measured weekly,
was 31 to 32‰ during the trial. At the end of the trial, the
fish were collected from each pen and group weighed.
Three fish were sampled from each pen for the
determination of final carcass composition.
where I (g) is total feed fed on a dry weight basis, W0 (g)
is total initial body weight and Wt (g) total final body
weight, t (d) is duration of the feeding trial, Nt is number
of fish at the end of the trial and N0 at the start of the trial,
Wd (g) is total weight of the dead fish, CNt (%) is nitrogen
content in carcass at the end of the trial and CN0 (%) at
the start of the trial, CNf (%) is nitrogen content in the
feeds, Ws (g fish− 1) is body weight of the fish sampled at
the end of the feeding trial and Ls (cm) total length and
Wl (g) liver weight.
2.3. Chemical analysis
The fish and feeds sampled during the trial were
autoclaved at 120 °C for 20 min, homogenized, and dried
at 105 °C for 24 h prior to the chemical analysis. The
Table 3
Essential amino acid profile (% dry weight) of the herring meal, soybean meal and test feeds
Ingredients or feeds
Thr
Val
Cys
Met
Ile
Leu
Tyr
Phe
Lys
His
Arg
Herring meal
Soybean meal
Control
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
2.14
1.57
1.39
1.47
1.41
1.42
1.35
1.39
3.00
2.31
1.94
2.07
2.07
2.17
2.12
2.28
0.24
0.26
0.19
0.14
0.07
0.17
0.12
0.22
1.68
0.44
1.29
1.30
1.12
1.07
0.97
0.88
2.64
2.22
1.63
1.74
1.74
1.78
1.74
1.77
4.17
3.49
2.81
3.00
3.00
3.20
3.12
3.34
1.56
1.34
0.89
1.00
0.79
1.03
1.02
1.07
2.27
2.29
1.51
1.69
1.71
1.91
1.89
1.99
4.27
2.78
2.55
2.51
2.52
2.44
2.47
2.45
1.52
1.40
1.38
1.41
1.44
1.43
1.33
1.46
2.98
3.03
2.15
2.29
2.30
2.48
2.52
2.50
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Y. Wang et al. / Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307–1313
Specific growth rate in fish fed the control feed was not
significantly different from fish fed the feeds in which
SBM replaced 20 to 40% of the fish meal (P N 0.05), but
was higher than fish fed the feeds in which SBM replaced
60 to 100% of the fish meal (P b 0.05). At the end of the
trial, FBW in fish fed the control feed was not
significantly different from fish fed the feed in which
SBM replaced 20% of the fish meal, but was higher than
fish fed the feeds in which SBM replaced 40 to 100% of
the fish meal (P b 0.05). Fish fed the control feed had
lower FCR than fish fed the feeds in which SBM
replaced 40 to 100% of the fish meal (P b 0.05), and
higher NRE than that of fish fed the feeds in which SBM
replaced 60 to 100% of the fish meal (P b 0.05). Fish fed
the fish meal free feed had the highest FCR and lowest
NRE among the feed treatments.
At the end of the feeding trial, condition factor was
1.90 ± 0.08, 2.14 ± 0.09, 2.00 ± 0.10, 1.74 ± 0.21, 1.81 ±
0.12 and 1.71 ± 0.08 g cm− 3 (Mean ± S.E., n = 3), while
HSI was 1.25 ± 0.04, 1.21 ± 0.05, 1.21 ± 0.05, 1.16 ± 0.04,
1.15 ± 0.04 and 1.14 ± 0.01%, for fish fed the feeds
containing 40, 32, 24, 16, 8 and 0% fish meal. Fish fed
the control feed had higher CF and HSI than those of fish
fed the feeds in which 60 to 100% of the fish meal was
replaced (P b 0.05).
There was no significant difference in carcass protein
content among fish fed the different feeds (P N 0.05,
Table 5). Fish fed the control feed had lower carcass
moisture content, but higher lipid content than those of
fish fed the feeds in which 60 to 100% of the fish meal
was replaced (P b 0.05). Fish fed the feeds in which SBM
replaced 20 to 100% of the fish meal had higher carcass
ash content than that of fish fed the control feed
(P b 0.05).
Fig. 1. Relationship between weight gain and fish meal level included
in the test feeds.
One-way analysis of variance was performed to
examine differences in survival, feed intake, SGR, final
body weight (FBW), FCR, NRE, CF, HSI and carcass
components among the treatments, and mean comparisons were examined using Tukey HSD test. Survival,
SGR, NRE, HSI and body components were arcsine and
logarithm transformed. Relationships between WG and
fish meal inclusion level was examined using multiple
linear regression. Significance was accepted at P b 0.05.
3. Results
Survival of fish was greater than 94% and not affected
by feed composition. Weight gain (WG: g) linearly
declined with the decrease of fish meal inclusion level
(FL: %), and the regression equation was expressed as:
WG = 61.2 + 1.61 × FL (n = 18, r 2 = 0.87, P b 0.01,
Fig. 1). There was no significant difference in feed
intake among fish fed the control feed and feeds in which
SBM replaced 20 to 80% of the fish meal (P N 0.05,
Table 4). Fish fed the fish meal free feed had higher feed
intake than that of fish fed the control feed (P b 0.05).
4. Discussion
In the present study, the test feeds were formulated to
contain 39% DP and 16 MJ kg− 1 DE that had been
Table 4
Body weight (g fish− 1), feed intake (% d− 1), specific growth (% d− 1), feed conversion ratio (feed gain− 1) and nitrogen retention efficiency (%) of
cuneate drum fed the test feeds (Mean ± S.E., n = 3)
Feeds
Control
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
Initial weight
30.1 ± 0.9
30.3 ± 0.7
29.2 ± 0.6
30.1 ± 0.6
29.4 ± 0.6
29.2 ± 0.9
Final weight
a
152.2 ± 6.6
146.8 ± 9.0a,b
131.3 ± 3.9b,c
118.1 ± 8.4c,d
101.0 ± 2.6d,e
90.2 ± 2.6e
Feed intake
a
2.66 ± 0.03
2.64 ± 0.06a
2.73 ± 0.01a
2.62 ± 0.02a
2.72 ± 0.03a
2.89 ± 0.05b
Specific growth rate
a
2.86 ± 0.03
2.81 ± 0.07a
2.69 ± 0.06a
2.43 ± 0.10b
2.20 ± 0.03b
2.01 ± 0.02b
Feed conversion ratio
a
1.12 ± 0.02
1.14 ± 0.02a,b
1.21 ± 0.03b,c
1.24 ± 0.04c
1.39 ± 0.02d
1.60 ± 0.03e
Nitrogen retention efficiency
39.3 ± 1.0a
38.1 ± 2.7a
36.2 ± 0.9a,b
33.6 ± 2.6b
31.5 ± 1.4b
26.4 ± 1.3c
The superscripts present results of Tukey HSD test among the feed treatments. The values within the same column with different superscripts are
significantly different at P b 0.05.
Feed intake and feed conversion ratio are expressed on a dry feed basis.
Y. Wang et al. / Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307–1313
Table 5
Proximate composition (%) in carcass of cuneate drum fed the test
feeds (Mean ± S.E., n = 3)
Feeds
Moisture
Crude protein
Crude lipid
Ash
Initial
Control
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
76.5 ± 0.1
72.1 ± 0.1a
72.3 ± 0.3a,b
72.6 ± 0.2a,b
73.1 ± 0.5b
72.7 ± 0.2a,b
73.1 ± 0.2b
17.4 ± 0.1
18.7 ± 0.1
18.7 ± 0.5
18.5 ± 0.1
18.2 ± 0.1
18.4 ± 0.2
18.2 ± 0.2
2.7 ± 0.1
6.2 ± 0.2a
6.0 ± 0.1a
5.8 ± 0.2a,b
5.2 ± 0.3b,c
5.4 ± 0.5b,c
4.7 ± 0.1c
4.2 ± 0.04
3.9 ± 0.05a
4.1 ± 0.02b
4.1 ± 0.07b
4.2 ± 0.08b,c
4.3 ± 0.06c
4.3 ± 0.03c
The superscripts present results of Tukey HSD test among the feed
treatments. The values within the same column with different superscripts are significantly different at P b 0.05.
Crude protein, crude lipid and ash are expressed on a wet weight basis.
demonstrated adequate for growth of cuneate drum (Wang
et al., 2006a). To make the feeds isonitrogenous and
isocaloric, contents of blood meal (0.1 to 6.2%), wheat
middlings (27.2 to 6.5%) and fish oil (6.7 to 10%) were
adjusted, and these changes had been demonstrated to be
acceptable for cuneate drum (Wang et al., 2006a). Specific
growth rate (2.86% d− 1) and NRE (39%) of fish fed the
control feed were higher than those of the 28 g fish fed
frozen Sardinella sp (SGR = 2.40% d− 1, NRE = 23%,
Guo et al., in press), suggesting cuneate drum fed a
herring meal-based feed with 39% DP and 16 MJ kg− 1
DE grew well, and had lower nitrogen-waste relative to
the fish fed raw fish.
The present study reveal the negative effects of
replacing 40 to 100% of the fish meal by inclusion of
SBM with DL-methionine supply on SGR, WG, FCR and
NRE, suggesting at least 32% fish meal needed in feed
formulation for cuneate drum. By inclusion of SBM,
40% to 42% fish meal was still needed in the feeds for
Japanese flounder, Korean rockfish and olive flounder
(Kikuchi, 1999; Lim et al., 2004; Choi et al., 2004), and
31% for Atlantic salmon (Refstie et al., 1998), and 25%
to 27% for Asian seabass, silver seabream, hybrid striped
bass and cobia (El-Sayed, 1994; Gallagher, 1994;
Boonyaratpalin et al., 1998; Chou et al., 2004), and 5%
for red drum (McGoogan and Gatlin, 1997). Therefore,
cuneate drum has much lower ability in using SBM as
fish meal substitute than that of red drum (McGoogan
and Gatlin, 1997).
The poor growth and feed utilization of fish fed the
feeds containing SBM protein may be due to the presence
of anti-nutritional factors (Wilson and Poe, 1985; van den
Ingh et al., 1996; Bureau et al., 1998; Refstie et al., 1998;
Peres et al., 2003), low protein digestibility (Refstie et al.,
1998), and essential amino acid deficiency (Chong et al.,
2003; Tantikitti et al., 2005) in the SBM feeds. The SBM
used in the present study was a widely used commercial
1311
product without any additional treatment. Protein digestibility of the test feeds was not measured in the feeding
trial, thus we could not evaluate the effects of antinutritional factors and protein digestibility from inclusion
SBM on growth and feed utilization of cuneate drum.
Methionine is generally the limiting amino acid of SBM
(Hertrampf and Piedad-Pascual, 2000), and methionine
deficiency of SBM feeds has been observed in other
studies (Chong et al., 2003; Chou et al., 2004). In the
present study, methionine content of the test feeds
decreased gradually from 1.29% of the control feed to
0.88% of the feeds containing 56.3% SBM, although
0.5% DL-methionine was added in the feed formulations.
This indicates that methionine deficiency may be one of
the reasons responsible for low growth performance and
poor feed utilization of cuneate drum fed the feeds that
contain high level of SBM.
In the present study, fish fed the fish meal free feed had
higher feed intake than that of fish fed the control feed,
and there was no significant difference in feed intake
among fish fed the control feed and feeds in which SBM
replaced 20 to 80% of the fish meal. This indicates that
poor growth performance of cuneate drum fed the feeds
containing high levels of SBM is not due to feed
palatability. Inconsistent results still exist on how SBM
inclusion affects feed palatability. Red drum refused to
accept feed in which fish meal was completely replaced
with SBM (Reigh and Ellis, 1992), or had lowed feed
intake when fed feeds containing low fish meal (Davis
et al., 1995). Feed intake of Asian seabass and discus fed
feeds containing high level of SBM was significantly
lower (Boonyaratpalin et al., 1998; Chong et al., 2003;
Tantikitti et al., 2005). However, red drum fed a feed in
which 90% of the protein came from SBM had higher
feed intake than that of the fish fed a fish meal feed
(McGoogan and Gatlin, 1997). In the present study,
cuneate drum showed active feeding behavior when fed
SBM containing feeds, this is consistent with the
conclusion that palatability was not a major factor
responsible for the lower feed consumption of SBMbased feed than the fish meal-based feed (Refstie et al.,
1997, 1998).
Cuneate drum fed the feeds contain high levels of SBM
had lowed carcass lipid content in the present study.
Similar findings have been observed in red drum
(McGoogan and Gatlin, 1997), discus (Chong et al.,
2003) and Asian seabass (Tantikitti et al., 2005), but not in
cobia (Chou et al., 2004), Korean rockfish (Lim et al.,
2004) and olive flounder (Choi et al., 2004). Cuneate
drum fed formulated feeds had higher carcass lipid
content than that of the fish fed raw fish (Wang et al.,
2006a). Lower carcass lipid content and high moisture
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Y. Wang et al. / Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307–1313
and ash contents of fish fed the feeds in which SBM was
included to replace the fish meal, in the present study, is
attributed to the reduced growth of these fish. The lower
carcass lipid content of fish fed the SBM-based feed is
responsible for the highest feed intake of the fish, because
feed intake of fish is regulated by their body lipid storage.
In our previous studies, the fish meal content in
cuneate drum feeds could be reduced to 17.5% by
inclusion of PBM (Wang et al., 2006b) or to 7% by
inclusion of combinations of PBM, MBM, FEM and BM
(Guo et al., in press) without significantly negative effect
on growth performance. In the present study, significantly lowed FBW and increased FCR occurred when
fish meal content was reduced to 24%. It is clear that
cuneate drum prefer to accept PBM, relative to SBM, as a
fish meal alternate protein.
Acknowledgements
This project was funded by grants from the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (30471340) and
Aquaculture Division in E-Institute of Shanghai Universities. We thank Yu Yu for his help in procurement of
the rendered animal ingredients, and Kai Li,. Zhouxing
Zheng, Wei-zhou Chen, Ze-wei Sun and Yuan-xi Lin for
their help with various aspects of this work.
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www.elsevier.com/locate/aqua-online
Effect of replacing fish meal with soybean meal on growth, feed
utilization and carcass composition of cuneate drum
(Nibea miichthioides)
Yan Wang a,⁎, Ling-Jun Kong a , Cui Li a , Dominique P. Bureau b
a
b
Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology and Fish Nutrition, Shanghai Fisheries University, Shanghai, China
Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
Received 12 July 2006; received in revised form 29 August 2006; accepted 29 August 2006
Abstract
The effect of replacing fish meal with soybean meal (SBM) in practical feeds for cuneate drum was evaluated in an 8-week net
pen trial. The cuneate drum fingerlings (initial body weight 29.8 ± 1.3 g fish− 1) were fed six isonitrogenous and isocaloric feeds
containing 39% digestible protein and 16 MJ kg− 1 digestible energy. The control feed was formulated to contain 40% herring meal,
whereas in the other five feeds SBM was included at 11.3, 22.5, 33.8, 45.0 and 56.3% to replace 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100% of the fish
meal. There were no significant differences in feed intake between fish fed the control feed and feeds in which SBM replaced 20 to
80% of the fish meal, but fish fed the fish meal free feed had higher feed intake than the other treatments. Weight gain linearly
declined with the decrease of fish meal level. Final body weight (FBW) of fish fed the feeds in which SBM replaced 20% of the
fish meal did not significantly differ from fish fed the control feed. Replacing 40 to 100% of the fish meal resulted in lower FBW
and nitrogen retention efficiency (NRE), and higher feed conversion ratio (FCR) than those of fish fed the control feed. Fish fed the
feeds in which SBM replaced 60 to 100% of the fish meal had lower condition factor and hepatosomatic index than those of fish
fed the control feed. No significant differences in carcass protein content was found among the treatments, but fish fed the feeds in
which SBM replaced 60 to 100% of the fish meal had higher moisture and lower lipid content in carcass than those of fish fed the
control feed. Results of the present study appear to indicate that cuneate drum has a limited ability to utilize SBM as a protein
source in practical feeds.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cuneate drum; Nibea miichthioides; Soybean meal; Growth; Nitrogen retention efficiency
1. Introduction
Fish meal is an excellent but costly protein source for
fish feed formulation, and is generally incorporated at
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 65710764; fax: +86 21
65711600.
E-mail address: wangyan@shfu.edu.cn (Y. Wang).
0044-8486/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.aquaculture.2006.08.045
50% in commercial feeds for carnivorous fish species
(Hertrampf and Piedad-Pascual, 2000). Reducing fish
meal level is key to reducing feed cost for commercial fish
farming and ensuring sustainability of this enterprise. It is
essential to evaluate the suitability of alternate plant and
animal protein meals as dietary protein sources for marine
carnivorous fish species. Soybean meal (SBM) is a widely
available, economical protein source with relatively high
1308
Y. Wang et al. / Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307–1313
digestible protein and energy contents and good amino
acid profile (Hertrampf and Piedad-Pascual, 2000). The
use of soybean proteins as a dietary protein has been
examined for many commercial important fish species,
such as rainbow trout (Cho et al., 1974; Dabrowski et al.,
1989; Pongmaneerat and Watanabe, 1992; Oliva-Telesa
et al., 1994; Kaushik et al., 1995; Refstie et al., 1997;
Bureau et al., 1998), channel catfish (Wilson and Poe,
1985; Webster et al., 1992; Peres et al., 2003), tilapia
(Shiau et al., 1989, 1990), red drum (Reigh and Ellis,
1992; McGoogan and Gatlin, 1997), Atlantic salmon
(Refstie et al., 1998) and Asian seabass (Boonyaratpalin
et al., 1998; Tantikitti et al., 2005).
Cuneate drum is a carnivorous sciaenid species native to
near-shore waters of the China Sea, and has been widely
cultured, with raw fish as feed, in net pens along the coast of
the South and East China Sea. Feeding raw fish results in
high feed costs and a high amount of nitrogenous waste.
Feed formulae that have high nutritive value, are costeffective, and produce less waste outputs are needed to
improve economical and environmental sustainability of
cuneate drum culture. The use of rendered animal protein
ingredients, such as meat and bone meal (MBM), poultry
by-product meal (PBM) and feather meal (FEM), as fish
meal replacement in cuneate drum feeds has been
determined (Wang et al., 2006b), but the ability of cuneate
drum to utilize SBM remains not to be evaluated.
Knowledge concerning fish meal replacement by SBM
for sciaenid species is still limited (Reigh and Ellis, 1992;
Davis et al., 1995; McGoogan and Gatlin, 1997). The
present study aimed at evaluating the effect of replacing fish
meal with SBM on growth, feed utilization and carcass
composition of cuneate drum reared in net pens.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Feed formulation and pellet preparation
Defatted (solvent extracted) soybean meal was
purchased from the East Sea Crop and Oil Corporation
(Shanghai, China). Rendered animal by-product ingredients, including PBM and blood meal (BM), was
supplied by National Rendered Association (Hong
Kong, SAR). Other feed ingredients were obtained
from Xinnong Feed Company (Shanghai, China). The
proximate composition and gross energy content of the
ingredients are shown in Table 1.
A practical feed (39% digestible protein and 16 MJ
kg− 1 digestible energy) containing 400 g kg− 1 herring
meal which had previously been demonstrated to support
good growth performance (Wang et al., 2006a) was used
as the control. In the other five feeds, 20, 40, 60, 80 or
Table 1
Proximate composition (%) and gross energy content (MJ kg− 1) of the
ingredients
Ingredients
Dry
matter
Crude
protein
Crude
lipid
Ash
Gross
energy
Herring meal
Poultry by-product meal
Blood meal
Soybean meal
Cottonseed meal
Wheat middlings
91.5
94.5
91.9
89.1
89.2
87.2
73.3
71.0
96.4
53.5
52.2
19.1
9.2
13.0
1.3
1.4
0.3
3.3
18.7
13.9
2.4
6.4
7.2
3.4
18.7
23.2
25.1
17.4
17.3
17.1
Crude protein, lipid, ash and gross energy are expressed on a dry
matter basis.
100% of the fish meal was replaced by SBM. These five
additional feeds were formulated to be isonitrogenous
(39% DP) and isocaloric (16 MJ kg− 1 DE). All the feeds
were supplemented with 0.5% DL-methionine since this
amino acid was predicted to be the first limiting amino
acid. The formulation, proximate composition and gross
energy of the test feeds are shown in Table 2, and amino
acid profile of the herring meal, SBM and test feeds in
Table 3.
The dry ingredients were ground with a hammer
grinder, and mixed with a 30-l Hobart kitchen mixer. Slow
sinking pellets (diameter 4 mm and length 8 mm) were
made using a laboratory-scale, single screw extruder
(extruding temperature 100 °C to 120 °C). The pellets
were dried at room temperature.
2.2. Fish, husbandry and feeding
An 8-week feeding trial was carried out in net pens in
Shenao Bay, Shantou (Guangdong, China). Cuneate drum
(Nibea miichthioides) fingerlings were obtained from a
local marine fish hatchery. The fish were reared in net
pens (3 m × 3 m × 2 m) and were gradually weaned from
raw fish onto the control feed. Two weeks prior to the start
of the feeding trial, 800 fish were selected and acclimated
to 20 experimental pens (1 m × 1 m × 1.5 m) at 40 fish per
pen, and fed the control feed twice daily. At the start of the
trial, the acclimated fish were deprived of feed for 24 h,
pooled, and 18 groups of 30 fish each were group
weighed, and randomly sorted into 18 experimental pens.
Each feed treatment had 3 replicates. Eight sub-samples of
3 fish each were collected from the remaining acclimated
fish for the determination of initial carcass composition.
The sampled fish were frozen at −20 °C until analysis.
During the trial, the fish were hand fed at 08:00 and
16:00 h daily following the method described in Wang et al.
(2006a) except days of strong waves or high temperature.
Dead fish were recorded and weighed for calculating feed
conversion ratio (FCR). Water temperature, measured
1309
Y. Wang et al. / Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307–1313
Table 2
Formulation, proximate composition (%) and energy content (MJ kg− 1)
of the test feeds
Ingredients
Control
Herring meal
40.0
Soybean meal
Blood meal
0.1
Poultry by-product meal 15.0
Cottonseed meal
5.0
Wheat middlings
27.2
CaHPO4
1.5
α-starch
2.0
DL-methionine
0.5
Fish oil
6.7
Vitamin premix
1.0
Mineral premix
1.0
Nutrient and energy contents
Dry matter
88.0
Crude protein
43.4
Crude lipid
11.3
Ash
11.0
Gross energy
19.0
DDM
70.6
DP
39.0
DE
16.7
DP/DE
23.4
S1
S2
S3
S4
32.0
11.3
1.0
15.0
5.0
22.3
1.5
2.0
0.5
7.4
1.0
1.0
24.0
22.5
1.2
15.0
5.0
18.3
1.5
2.0
0.5
8.0
1.0
1.0
16.0
33.8
3.0
15.0
5.0
12.5
1.5
2.0
0.5
8.7
1.0
1.0
8.0
45.0
3.5
15.0
5.0
8.0
1.5
2.0
0.5
9.5
1.0
1.0
87.7
43.6
11.7
10.2
19.3
70.3
38.9
16.6
23.5
88.3
42.9
11.9
9.5
19.5
69.7
38.4
16.4
23.4
87.6
43.8
10.9
8.6
19.5
69.6
38.8
16.4
23.7
88.3
43.2
11.5
7.7
19.8
69.1
38.5
16.3
23.5
ingredients, feeds and fish were ground with a laboratory
mill. Moisture, crude protein, crude lipid, ash, and gross
energy content of the ingredients, feeds and fish were
analyzed using the methods described in Wang et al.
(2006a). Amino acids of the herring meal, SBM and
feeds were analyzed using a SYCOM S-433D amino
acid analyzer (SYKAM, German).
S5
56.3
6.2
15.0
2.4. Data calculations and statistical analysis
6.5
1.5
2.0
0.5
10.0
1.0
1.0
Feed intake, specific growth rate (SGR), weight gain
(WG), FCR and nitrogen retention efficiency (NRE),
condition factor (CF), and hepatosomatic index (HSI)
were calculated as follows:
Feed intakeð% d−1 Þ ¼ 100 I=½ðW0 þ Wt Þ=2 t
88.3
44.0
10.8
6.7
19.9
70.4
38.2
16.6
23.0
SGRð% d−1 Þ ¼ ½lnðWt =Nt Þ−lnðW0 =N0 Þ=t
WGðgÞ ¼ ðWt =Nt −W0 =N0 Þ
FCRðdry feed gain−1 Þ ¼ I=ðWt −W0 þ Wd Þ
Vitamin premix and mineral premix were described in Wang et al.
(2006a).
Digestible dry matter (DDM), digestible protein (DP) and digestible
energy (DE ) were calculated as described in Wang et al. (2006a).
Crude protein, lipid, ash, gross energy, DP and DE are expressed on a
dry matter basis and given as means (n = 2).
NREð%Þ ¼ 100 ðWt CNt −W0 CN0 þ Wd
CN0 Þ=ðI CNf Þ
CFðg cm−3 Þ ¼ 100 Ws =L3s
HSIð%Þ ¼ 100 Wl =Ws
daily, was 25 °C to 32 °C, and salinity, measured weekly,
was 31 to 32‰ during the trial. At the end of the trial, the
fish were collected from each pen and group weighed.
Three fish were sampled from each pen for the
determination of final carcass composition.
where I (g) is total feed fed on a dry weight basis, W0 (g)
is total initial body weight and Wt (g) total final body
weight, t (d) is duration of the feeding trial, Nt is number
of fish at the end of the trial and N0 at the start of the trial,
Wd (g) is total weight of the dead fish, CNt (%) is nitrogen
content in carcass at the end of the trial and CN0 (%) at
the start of the trial, CNf (%) is nitrogen content in the
feeds, Ws (g fish− 1) is body weight of the fish sampled at
the end of the feeding trial and Ls (cm) total length and
Wl (g) liver weight.
2.3. Chemical analysis
The fish and feeds sampled during the trial were
autoclaved at 120 °C for 20 min, homogenized, and dried
at 105 °C for 24 h prior to the chemical analysis. The
Table 3
Essential amino acid profile (% dry weight) of the herring meal, soybean meal and test feeds
Ingredients or feeds
Thr
Val
Cys
Met
Ile
Leu
Tyr
Phe
Lys
His
Arg
Herring meal
Soybean meal
Control
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
2.14
1.57
1.39
1.47
1.41
1.42
1.35
1.39
3.00
2.31
1.94
2.07
2.07
2.17
2.12
2.28
0.24
0.26
0.19
0.14
0.07
0.17
0.12
0.22
1.68
0.44
1.29
1.30
1.12
1.07
0.97
0.88
2.64
2.22
1.63
1.74
1.74
1.78
1.74
1.77
4.17
3.49
2.81
3.00
3.00
3.20
3.12
3.34
1.56
1.34
0.89
1.00
0.79
1.03
1.02
1.07
2.27
2.29
1.51
1.69
1.71
1.91
1.89
1.99
4.27
2.78
2.55
2.51
2.52
2.44
2.47
2.45
1.52
1.40
1.38
1.41
1.44
1.43
1.33
1.46
2.98
3.03
2.15
2.29
2.30
2.48
2.52
2.50
1310
Y. Wang et al. / Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307–1313
Specific growth rate in fish fed the control feed was not
significantly different from fish fed the feeds in which
SBM replaced 20 to 40% of the fish meal (P N 0.05), but
was higher than fish fed the feeds in which SBM replaced
60 to 100% of the fish meal (P b 0.05). At the end of the
trial, FBW in fish fed the control feed was not
significantly different from fish fed the feed in which
SBM replaced 20% of the fish meal, but was higher than
fish fed the feeds in which SBM replaced 40 to 100% of
the fish meal (P b 0.05). Fish fed the control feed had
lower FCR than fish fed the feeds in which SBM
replaced 40 to 100% of the fish meal (P b 0.05), and
higher NRE than that of fish fed the feeds in which SBM
replaced 60 to 100% of the fish meal (P b 0.05). Fish fed
the fish meal free feed had the highest FCR and lowest
NRE among the feed treatments.
At the end of the feeding trial, condition factor was
1.90 ± 0.08, 2.14 ± 0.09, 2.00 ± 0.10, 1.74 ± 0.21, 1.81 ±
0.12 and 1.71 ± 0.08 g cm− 3 (Mean ± S.E., n = 3), while
HSI was 1.25 ± 0.04, 1.21 ± 0.05, 1.21 ± 0.05, 1.16 ± 0.04,
1.15 ± 0.04 and 1.14 ± 0.01%, for fish fed the feeds
containing 40, 32, 24, 16, 8 and 0% fish meal. Fish fed
the control feed had higher CF and HSI than those of fish
fed the feeds in which 60 to 100% of the fish meal was
replaced (P b 0.05).
There was no significant difference in carcass protein
content among fish fed the different feeds (P N 0.05,
Table 5). Fish fed the control feed had lower carcass
moisture content, but higher lipid content than those of
fish fed the feeds in which 60 to 100% of the fish meal
was replaced (P b 0.05). Fish fed the feeds in which SBM
replaced 20 to 100% of the fish meal had higher carcass
ash content than that of fish fed the control feed
(P b 0.05).
Fig. 1. Relationship between weight gain and fish meal level included
in the test feeds.
One-way analysis of variance was performed to
examine differences in survival, feed intake, SGR, final
body weight (FBW), FCR, NRE, CF, HSI and carcass
components among the treatments, and mean comparisons were examined using Tukey HSD test. Survival,
SGR, NRE, HSI and body components were arcsine and
logarithm transformed. Relationships between WG and
fish meal inclusion level was examined using multiple
linear regression. Significance was accepted at P b 0.05.
3. Results
Survival of fish was greater than 94% and not affected
by feed composition. Weight gain (WG: g) linearly
declined with the decrease of fish meal inclusion level
(FL: %), and the regression equation was expressed as:
WG = 61.2 + 1.61 × FL (n = 18, r 2 = 0.87, P b 0.01,
Fig. 1). There was no significant difference in feed
intake among fish fed the control feed and feeds in which
SBM replaced 20 to 80% of the fish meal (P N 0.05,
Table 4). Fish fed the fish meal free feed had higher feed
intake than that of fish fed the control feed (P b 0.05).
4. Discussion
In the present study, the test feeds were formulated to
contain 39% DP and 16 MJ kg− 1 DE that had been
Table 4
Body weight (g fish− 1), feed intake (% d− 1), specific growth (% d− 1), feed conversion ratio (feed gain− 1) and nitrogen retention efficiency (%) of
cuneate drum fed the test feeds (Mean ± S.E., n = 3)
Feeds
Control
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
Initial weight
30.1 ± 0.9
30.3 ± 0.7
29.2 ± 0.6
30.1 ± 0.6
29.4 ± 0.6
29.2 ± 0.9
Final weight
a
152.2 ± 6.6
146.8 ± 9.0a,b
131.3 ± 3.9b,c
118.1 ± 8.4c,d
101.0 ± 2.6d,e
90.2 ± 2.6e
Feed intake
a
2.66 ± 0.03
2.64 ± 0.06a
2.73 ± 0.01a
2.62 ± 0.02a
2.72 ± 0.03a
2.89 ± 0.05b
Specific growth rate
a
2.86 ± 0.03
2.81 ± 0.07a
2.69 ± 0.06a
2.43 ± 0.10b
2.20 ± 0.03b
2.01 ± 0.02b
Feed conversion ratio
a
1.12 ± 0.02
1.14 ± 0.02a,b
1.21 ± 0.03b,c
1.24 ± 0.04c
1.39 ± 0.02d
1.60 ± 0.03e
Nitrogen retention efficiency
39.3 ± 1.0a
38.1 ± 2.7a
36.2 ± 0.9a,b
33.6 ± 2.6b
31.5 ± 1.4b
26.4 ± 1.3c
The superscripts present results of Tukey HSD test among the feed treatments. The values within the same column with different superscripts are
significantly different at P b 0.05.
Feed intake and feed conversion ratio are expressed on a dry feed basis.
Y. Wang et al. / Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307–1313
Table 5
Proximate composition (%) in carcass of cuneate drum fed the test
feeds (Mean ± S.E., n = 3)
Feeds
Moisture
Crude protein
Crude lipid
Ash
Initial
Control
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
76.5 ± 0.1
72.1 ± 0.1a
72.3 ± 0.3a,b
72.6 ± 0.2a,b
73.1 ± 0.5b
72.7 ± 0.2a,b
73.1 ± 0.2b
17.4 ± 0.1
18.7 ± 0.1
18.7 ± 0.5
18.5 ± 0.1
18.2 ± 0.1
18.4 ± 0.2
18.2 ± 0.2
2.7 ± 0.1
6.2 ± 0.2a
6.0 ± 0.1a
5.8 ± 0.2a,b
5.2 ± 0.3b,c
5.4 ± 0.5b,c
4.7 ± 0.1c
4.2 ± 0.04
3.9 ± 0.05a
4.1 ± 0.02b
4.1 ± 0.07b
4.2 ± 0.08b,c
4.3 ± 0.06c
4.3 ± 0.03c
The superscripts present results of Tukey HSD test among the feed
treatments. The values within the same column with different superscripts are significantly different at P b 0.05.
Crude protein, crude lipid and ash are expressed on a wet weight basis.
demonstrated adequate for growth of cuneate drum (Wang
et al., 2006a). To make the feeds isonitrogenous and
isocaloric, contents of blood meal (0.1 to 6.2%), wheat
middlings (27.2 to 6.5%) and fish oil (6.7 to 10%) were
adjusted, and these changes had been demonstrated to be
acceptable for cuneate drum (Wang et al., 2006a). Specific
growth rate (2.86% d− 1) and NRE (39%) of fish fed the
control feed were higher than those of the 28 g fish fed
frozen Sardinella sp (SGR = 2.40% d− 1, NRE = 23%,
Guo et al., in press), suggesting cuneate drum fed a
herring meal-based feed with 39% DP and 16 MJ kg− 1
DE grew well, and had lower nitrogen-waste relative to
the fish fed raw fish.
The present study reveal the negative effects of
replacing 40 to 100% of the fish meal by inclusion of
SBM with DL-methionine supply on SGR, WG, FCR and
NRE, suggesting at least 32% fish meal needed in feed
formulation for cuneate drum. By inclusion of SBM,
40% to 42% fish meal was still needed in the feeds for
Japanese flounder, Korean rockfish and olive flounder
(Kikuchi, 1999; Lim et al., 2004; Choi et al., 2004), and
31% for Atlantic salmon (Refstie et al., 1998), and 25%
to 27% for Asian seabass, silver seabream, hybrid striped
bass and cobia (El-Sayed, 1994; Gallagher, 1994;
Boonyaratpalin et al., 1998; Chou et al., 2004), and 5%
for red drum (McGoogan and Gatlin, 1997). Therefore,
cuneate drum has much lower ability in using SBM as
fish meal substitute than that of red drum (McGoogan
and Gatlin, 1997).
The poor growth and feed utilization of fish fed the
feeds containing SBM protein may be due to the presence
of anti-nutritional factors (Wilson and Poe, 1985; van den
Ingh et al., 1996; Bureau et al., 1998; Refstie et al., 1998;
Peres et al., 2003), low protein digestibility (Refstie et al.,
1998), and essential amino acid deficiency (Chong et al.,
2003; Tantikitti et al., 2005) in the SBM feeds. The SBM
used in the present study was a widely used commercial
1311
product without any additional treatment. Protein digestibility of the test feeds was not measured in the feeding
trial, thus we could not evaluate the effects of antinutritional factors and protein digestibility from inclusion
SBM on growth and feed utilization of cuneate drum.
Methionine is generally the limiting amino acid of SBM
(Hertrampf and Piedad-Pascual, 2000), and methionine
deficiency of SBM feeds has been observed in other
studies (Chong et al., 2003; Chou et al., 2004). In the
present study, methionine content of the test feeds
decreased gradually from 1.29% of the control feed to
0.88% of the feeds containing 56.3% SBM, although
0.5% DL-methionine was added in the feed formulations.
This indicates that methionine deficiency may be one of
the reasons responsible for low growth performance and
poor feed utilization of cuneate drum fed the feeds that
contain high level of SBM.
In the present study, fish fed the fish meal free feed had
higher feed intake than that of fish fed the control feed,
and there was no significant difference in feed intake
among fish fed the control feed and feeds in which SBM
replaced 20 to 80% of the fish meal. This indicates that
poor growth performance of cuneate drum fed the feeds
containing high levels of SBM is not due to feed
palatability. Inconsistent results still exist on how SBM
inclusion affects feed palatability. Red drum refused to
accept feed in which fish meal was completely replaced
with SBM (Reigh and Ellis, 1992), or had lowed feed
intake when fed feeds containing low fish meal (Davis
et al., 1995). Feed intake of Asian seabass and discus fed
feeds containing high level of SBM was significantly
lower (Boonyaratpalin et al., 1998; Chong et al., 2003;
Tantikitti et al., 2005). However, red drum fed a feed in
which 90% of the protein came from SBM had higher
feed intake than that of the fish fed a fish meal feed
(McGoogan and Gatlin, 1997). In the present study,
cuneate drum showed active feeding behavior when fed
SBM containing feeds, this is consistent with the
conclusion that palatability was not a major factor
responsible for the lower feed consumption of SBMbased feed than the fish meal-based feed (Refstie et al.,
1997, 1998).
Cuneate drum fed the feeds contain high levels of SBM
had lowed carcass lipid content in the present study.
Similar findings have been observed in red drum
(McGoogan and Gatlin, 1997), discus (Chong et al.,
2003) and Asian seabass (Tantikitti et al., 2005), but not in
cobia (Chou et al., 2004), Korean rockfish (Lim et al.,
2004) and olive flounder (Choi et al., 2004). Cuneate
drum fed formulated feeds had higher carcass lipid
content than that of the fish fed raw fish (Wang et al.,
2006a). Lower carcass lipid content and high moisture
1312
Y. Wang et al. / Aquaculture 261 (2006) 1307–1313
and ash contents of fish fed the feeds in which SBM was
included to replace the fish meal, in the present study, is
attributed to the reduced growth of these fish. The lower
carcass lipid content of fish fed the SBM-based feed is
responsible for the highest feed intake of the fish, because
feed intake of fish is regulated by their body lipid storage.
In our previous studies, the fish meal content in
cuneate drum feeds could be reduced to 17.5% by
inclusion of PBM (Wang et al., 2006b) or to 7% by
inclusion of combinations of PBM, MBM, FEM and BM
(Guo et al., in press) without significantly negative effect
on growth performance. In the present study, significantly lowed FBW and increased FCR occurred when
fish meal content was reduced to 24%. It is clear that
cuneate drum prefer to accept PBM, relative to SBM, as a
fish meal alternate protein.
Acknowledgements
This project was funded by grants from the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (30471340) and
Aquaculture Division in E-Institute of Shanghai Universities. We thank Yu Yu for his help in procurement of
the rendered animal ingredients, and Kai Li,. Zhouxing
Zheng, Wei-zhou Chen, Ze-wei Sun and Yuan-xi Lin for
their help with various aspects of this work.
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