An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to establish the dietary vitamin E requirement of juvenile cobia. The basal diet was supplemented with 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 120 mg vitamin E kg À1 as all-rac-a-tocopheryl acetate. The results indicated that fish fed the diets supplemented vitamin E had significantly higher specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio, feed efficiency and survival rate than those fed the basal diet. It was further observed that vitamin E concentrations in liver increased significantly when the dietary vitamin E level increased from 13.2 to 124 mg kg À1 . Fish fed the basal diet had significantly higher thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances concentrations in liver than those fed the diets supplemented vitamin E. Fish fed the diets supplemented with 45.7 and 61.2 mg kg À1 vitamin E had significantly higher red blood cell and haemoglobin than those fed the basal diet, while fish fed the diets supplemented with 61.2 and 124 mg kg À1 vitamin E had higher immunoglobulin concentration than those fish fed the basal diet. Lysozyme and superoxide dismutase were significantly influenced by the dietary vitamin E level. The dietary vitamin E requirement of juvenile cobia was established based on second-order polynomial regression of weight gain and lysozyme to be 78 or 111 mg all-rac-a-tocopheryl acetate kg À1 diet, respectively.

An 11-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary methionine on the growth, antioxidant status, innate immune response and disease resistance to Aeromonas hydrophila of juvenile yellow catfish. Six isonitrogenous and isolipidic practical diets were formulated to contain different graded methionine levels ranging from 6.1 to 16.4 g kg À1 of dry weight. The results indicated that growth performance and feed utilization were significantly influenced by the dietary methionine levels; fish fed the diet containing 6.1 g kg À1 methionine level had lower specific growth rate, percentage weight gain (PWG), feed efficiency and protein efficiency ratio than those fed the other diets (P < 0.05). Fish fed the diet containing 16.4 g kg À1 methionine level had lowest protein contents in whole body and muscle among all treatments. Triacylglycerols, cholesterol, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and haemoglobin (Hb) in plasma or whole blood were significantly affected by dietary methionine levels. Fish fed the diet containing 6.1 g kg À1 methionine level had higher superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase activities and malondialdehyde values than those fed other diets. Fish fed diets containing 9.7 and 11.8 g kg À1 methionine levels had higher lysozyme activity, total immune globulin, phagocytic activity and respiratory burst than those fed other diets. The lowest survival after A. hydrophila challenge was observed in fish fed a diet containing 6.1 g kg À1 methionine. Quadratic regression analysis of PWG against dietary methionine levels indicated that the optimal dietary methionine requirement for the maximum growth of juvenile yellow catfish was estimated to be 11.5 g kg À1 of the diet in the presence of 4.0 g kg À1 cystine (corresponding to 23.5 g kg À1 of dietary protein on a dry weight basis).