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Assessing the efficacy of three methionine sources in low protein and low fish meal diet for Chinese soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis

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Abstract

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of three dietary methionine (Met) sources [dl-Met, coated-Met, and a methionine hydroxy analogue calcium salt (MHA-Ca)] for Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis). Triplicate groups of juvenile turtles (initial weight 3.48 ± 0.03 g) were fed twice per day at 3% of body weight with positive control diet (T1, 46% protein and 46% fish meal, FM), negative control diet (T2, 43% protein and 23% FM), or three other test diets supplemented with either 0.2% coated-Met (T3), 0.125% MHA-Ca (T4), or 0.1% dl-Met (T5) to the T2 basal formulation, respectively. The feeding trial was conducted in 15 350-L plastic containers with three replicates per dietary treatment. The results showed that the highest and lowest percentage weight gain (1023.5 ± 18.2 versus 882.1 ± 14.5%) and feed efficiency (87.2 ± 0.94 versus 81.4 ± 0.4%) were observed in turtles fed the T1 and T2 diet (P < 0.05), respectively. Significant improvement in weight gain was observed in turtles fed diets with Met supplementation, irrespective of source, compared with turtles fed the T2 diet. It was observed that dietary MHA-Ca had similar efficacy compared with dl-Met in terms of growth performance and feed utilization efficiency of the turtles (P > 0.05). Protein utilization efficiency was significantly higher in turtles fed T4 or T5 diet compared to the T2 diet. Whole body protein content (17.0 to 17.4% on a wet weight basis) in turtles fed with Met-added diets was comparable to those of turtles fed the T1 diet which were significantly higher compared to T2-fed turtles. Antioxidant defense system enzymes, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase showed the highest activity, 658.8 ± 17.9 U/mL and 642.8 ± 17.5 μmol/L, respectively, in the serum of turtle fed the MHA-Ca supplemented diet and was significantly higher compared to turtles fed the T2 or T3 diet. The present results showed that P. sinensis are able to effectively use added MHA-Ca and dl-Met in low protein and low FM diets to enhance growth, feed utilization efficiency, nitrogen retention, and antioxidant defense system enzyme activities.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Tongxiang Wangcheng Aquaculture Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Xinxin Feed Co., Ltd. for supplying the experimental soft-shelled turtles and feed ingredients, respectively. We also thank Wan-Hua Zhou, Lin-Lin Pu, Yin Hua, and Lian Ye for their assistance in caring for the animals and sampling.

Funding

The study was funded by the public welfare project from the Science Technology Department of Zhejiang Province, China (2015C32029), Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LQ14C190001), and the Natural Science Foundation of China (31501605).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Fisheries Technical Extension Center, Hangzhou, China

    Fan Zhou, Yi-Jiang Bei, Ding-Nan Wang, Shi-Yan Li, Qing-Hui Meng & Xue-Yan Ding

  2. College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Ya-Qin Wang

  3. Fish Nutrition Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

    Wing-Keong Ng

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  1. Fan Zhou
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Correspondence to Fan Zhou.

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Zhou, F., Wang, YQ., Bei, YJ. et al. Assessing the efficacy of three methionine sources in low protein and low fish meal diet for Chinese soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis . Aquacult Int 26, 15–26 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-017-0193-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-017-0193-3

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