Replacement of Marine Feedstuffs with Stabilized Poultry Protein Meal and Fat in Practical Diets for Sunshine Bass, Morone chrysops × M. saxatilis

Abstract

We evaluated production performance and fillet composition of sunshine bass fed increasing levels of stabilized poultry protein meal (PM) and poultry fat (PO) to replace menhaden fish meal (FM) and/or oil (FO) in diets. The control diet included 200 g/kg (dry matter basis) FM and 98 g/kg FO. In eight treatment diets, 50% or 100% of the FM and/or FO were replaced with PM and PO. Each diet was fed to four replicate tanks of juvenile sunshine bass for 10 wks. Survival, food conversion ratio, and liposomatic index were unaffected by dietary treatment, although consumption, growth, and HSI were reduced with complete FM replacement. Fillet lipid content and athero- and thrombogenicity indices differed with lipid source; substitution of FO with PO resulted in marked increases in dietary and fillet monoenes and n-6 fatty acids. Consistent with this, dietary and fillet n-3 and highly unsaturated fatty acids were reduced in fish fed more PO. FM replacement similarly affected fillet fatty acid profile, though to a lesser degree. Our data suggests little to no interaction between FM, FO, and their alternatives in diets for sunshine bass, except with respect to the effect of FO and residual lipids in FM on tissue fatty acid composition.

Keywords:

• Alternative feedstuff
• fish meal/oil replacement
• HUFA
• fillet composition

Acknowledgments

We thank Andrew Coursey and Heidi Lewis for their help in data collection, and for Ms. Lewis's comments and editorial suggestions provided during preparation of this manuscript. We also thank Tyson Foods Inc. and Omega Protein Inc. for the donation of feedstuffs used in the present work.