The effects of dietary lipid level on growth and muscle composition of juvenile Varicorhinusbarbatulus were investigated using a one to one blend of menhaden fish oil andsoybean oil as the lipid source.Six purified,isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets containing0.2,2.6,4.5,9.4,16.1,and 19.6% lipids were fed to triplicate groups of 10 juvenile V.barbatulus for 8 weeks.Specific growth rates(SGR),weight gains(WG),feed conversionratios(FCR),and protein efficiency ratios(PER)for fish fed 9.4 and 16.1% dietary lipidswere significantly(P<0.05)better than those fed other experimental diets.Crude proteincontent of fish muscle was not affected by the lipid level in diets(P>0.05).Whereas,fishfed on high lipid diets(16.1 and 19.6%)had high lipid and low moisture contents in theirmuscle.When analyzed by second-order polynomial regression,using weight gain as theindicator,the optimal dietary lipid level for maximal growth of V.barbatulus was 12%.Theminimal dietary lipid level for V.barbatulus was between 5 and 10%.
The effects of dietary lipid level on growth and muscle composition of juvenile Varicorhinusbarbatulus were investigated using a one to one blend of menhaden fish oil andsoybean oil as the lipid source.Six purified,isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets containing0.2,2.6,4.5,9.4,16.1,and 19.6% lipids were fed to triplicate groups of 10 juvenile V.barbatulus for 8 weeks.Specific growth rates(SGR),weight gains(WG),feed conversionratios(FCR),and protein efficiency ratios(PER)for fish fed 9.4 and 16.1% dietary lipidswere significantly(P<0.05)better than those fed other experimental diets.Crude proteincontent of fish muscle was not affected by the lipid level in diets(P>0.05).Whereas,fishfed on high lipid diets(16.1 and 19.6%)had high lipid and low moisture contents in theirmuscle.When analyzed by second-order polynomial regression,using weight gain as theindicator,the optimal dietary lipid level for maximal growth of V.barbatulus was 12%.Theminimal dietary lipid level for V.barbatulus was between 5 and 10%.