Muscle amino acid profile of wild and farmed pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) in two size classes and an estimation of their dietary essential amino acid requirements

ABSTRACT

Pirarucu is a carnivorous fish species from the Amazon river basin. There is growing interest in pirarucu farming, but scarce information for specific diets is a limitation. We analyzed the muscle tissue amino acid profile of pirarucu in order to estimate its amino acid requirements by using a diverse sample pool. Wild pirarucu was captured in the Araguaia and Caiapós river basins (Tocantins, Brazil). Farmed pirarucu was purchased from fish farms in the states of Maranhão and Tocantins (Brazil). Fish were sampled in two size classes: 1.66 ± 0.22 and 10.49 ± 1.07 kg body weight. Multivariate statistical analyses were applied to amino acid profiles among the groups, using R software with Vegan package. Muscle amino acid profiles varied according to pirarucu origin and size class. Estimated values can be adopted to formulate diets for pirarucu. Pirarucu fillet is a good source of essential amino acids for human consumption.

KEYWORDS:

• Feed formulation
• protein utilization
• fillet protein quality
• EAA
• NEAA
• amino acid composition

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Leandro Kanamaru Franco de Lima, Tiago Vieira da Costa, Ramon Peres da Silva and Lucivaldo Ferreira Borges for their assistance during pirarucu sampling in the wild. The present study is part of the “Pirarucu da Amazônia Project – Research and Technology Transfer” (“Projeto Pirarucu-da-Amazônia - Pesquisa e Transferência de Tecnologias”) funded by Brazilian Support Service for Micro and Small Companies (SEBRAE) through the Tocantins Research Foundation (FAPTO agreement 9/2012, grant no. 2538/2012) and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply through the National Council for the Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq grant no. 434.400/2016-5). The last author is grateful to the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development for the research productivity grants received (PQ Process Number: 308578/2017-1).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento [CNPq grant no. 434.400/2016-5]; Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas [FAPTO agreement 9/2012, grant no. 2538/2012].