Pond Demonstration of Production Diets Using High Levels of Distiller's Dried Grains with Solubles with or without Lysine Supplementation for Channel Catfish

Abstract

Due to the increased availability and potential price advantage of distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS), there is considerable interest in utilizing this product in aquaculture diets. The response of channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus to practical diets containing 20% and 30% DDGS with and without lysine supplementation was evaluated over a 150-d pond trial. Twenty earthen ponds were stocked with 650 juvenile channel catfish. The basal diet contained 35% soybean meal, 15% cottonseed meal, and 23.7% corn meal and was based on a typical practical diet formulation for channel catfish. The experimental diets, which were formulated to contain 32% protein and 6% lipid, were as follows: diet 1 (control [basal] diet) contained 0% DDGS and 0% lysine; diet 2 included 20% DDGS and 0% lysine; diet 3 contained 20% DDGS and 0.10% lysine; diet 4 contained 30% DDGS and 0% lysine; and diet 5 included 30% DDGS and 0.20% lysine. There were no significant differences in the measured variables (i.e., final weight, weight gain, yield, survival, and feed conversion ratio) among the dietary treatments, indicating that diets containing a soybean meal–corn meal mixture and 30% DDGS without lysine supplementation allow for good growth and feed utilization in pond-produced channel catfish.