article · Animals
A sixty-day feeding trial evaluated the use of camelina meal as an alternative plant protein source replacing fish meal in diets for red seabream. Four diets were tested: a control diet without camelina meal, a soybean meal reference diet, and two diets containing camelina meal at different inclusion levels. Fish fed the lower camelina meal diet demonstrated weight gain, specific growth rate, feed intake, and feed conversion ratios equivalent to the control and soybean diets. These fish also maintained digestive enzyme activities, protein digestibility, non-specific immune responses, and resistance to low-salinity stress. In contrast, the higher camelina inclusion level significantly reduced growth, nutrient digestibility, enzyme activity, and immune parameters. Overall, camelina meal supported healthy growth and physiological performance in red seabream at moderate dietary levels.
Aquaculture relies heavily on wild fish stocks for feed ingredients, making sustainable plant alternatives essential. Demonstrating that camelina meal can replace fish meal without harming growth, digestion, or fish immunity offers feed producers another viable plant-based protein option, supporting more sustainable marine fish farming practices.
This research provides applied dietary evidence for aquafeed manufacturers and marine fish farmers seeking alternatives to fish meal. The findings establish that moderate camelina meal inclusion performs on par with soybean meal in red seabream diets. This applied experimental trial provides baseline formulation guidelines, though pilot trials under commercial farming conditions represent the next development step.
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A 60-day experiment was designed to assess the effect of different ratios of fish meal (FM): camelina meal plant protein (CM) on growth response and relative gene expression of growth-promoting factors, feed utilization potency, digestive enzymes activities, apparent digestibility (ADC), stress response, non-specific immunity of <i>Pagrus major</i>. Four isonitrogenous (490.7 g/kg of crude protein) and isolipidic (91.5 g/kg total lipid) experimental diets were formulated and designated as camelina meal (CM0), soyabean meal (SBM20.5), CM20.5, and CM33 based on protein contents. At the end of the feed trial, significantly higher (<i>p</i> < 0.05) weight gain, specific growth rate, and feed intake but lower feed conversion ratio were recorded in fish fed CM0, SBM20.5, and CM20.5 than fish fed CM33. The lowest growth, feed utilization, enzyme activity, and digestibility were recorded in fish fed CM33. Significantly higher pepsin, amylase, and protease activities were observed in fish fed CM0, SBM20.5, and CM20.5 diets than fish fed CM33. The highest ADC of protein was recorded in fish fed CM0, SBM20.5, and CM20.5 diets. Hematocrit levels were depressed CM33 while total serum protein, total cholesterol, triglyceride, blood urea nitrogen, total bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase were not significantly changed by the inclusion of CM. Non-specific immune variables (lysozyme activity, peroxidase activity in serum and nitro blue tetrazolium) in fish fed CM0, SBM20.5, and CM20.5 were significantly higher than in fish fed CM33 diet. The superoxide dismutase of fish fed CM20.5 was not significantly different from CM0 and SBM20.5 (<i>p</i> > 0.05). Catalase and low salinity stress test show that CM0, SBM20.5, and CM20.5 were not significantly (<i>p</i> > 0.05) different, while CM33 was significantly lower than the rest of the diets. TBARs show that CM20.5 and CM33 diets were significantly different (<i>p</i> < 0.05), but CM20.5 was not significantly different from SBM20.5. Significantly higher hepatic <i>IGF-1</i> and <i>IGF-2</i> mRNA expression was found in fish-fed diet groups CM0, SBM20.5, and CM20.5 than fish fed CM33. The present study indicated that the addition of CM up 205 kg/kg to diet maintains growth, digestive enzymes, nutrient digestibility, immunity, stress resistance, and feed utilization efficiency of red sea bream.
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DOI: 10.3390/ani11113118
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