Digestibility of dehulled lupine meal, corn distiller’s dried grain with solubles and de-fatted soybean meal for orange-spotted grouper Epinephelus coioides

ABSTRACT

Our study investigated the apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of corn distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), dehulled lupine meal (DHLM) and de-fatted soybean meal (DSBM) for orange-spotted grouper Epinephelus coioides. The ADC_cp of DHLM (97%) was the highest while the ADC_cp of DDGS (90%) was similar to that of DSBM (89%). Digestible protein (DP) of DHLM (523 g kg⁻¹) was significantly higher than that of DSBM (495 g kg⁻¹) while DP of DDGS (457 g kg⁻¹) was the lowest. We found no difference in digestible energy (DE) between DSBM (17.53 MJ kg⁻¹) and DHLM (16.99 MJ kg⁻¹) while DE of DDGS (15.77 MJ kg⁻¹) was also the lowest. The relationship between fiber class and ADCs suggested that reducing fiber class in DHLM and DDGS should be helpful for the orange-spotted grouper’s digestibility.

KEYWORDS:

• Epinephelus coioides
• apparent digestibility coefficient
• distiller’s dried grains with solubles
• lupine
• fiber class

Acknowledgments

The first author acknowledges the National Taiwan Ocean University scholarship for his post-graduate study. Special thanks are to Dr. Chyng-Hwa Liou for his valuable suggestion; Dr. Shi-Yen Shiau and Dr. Cheng-Yuan Lin for their kindness to allow us to use their facility.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).