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In this study, dietary supplementations of Korean Meju, fermented soybean meal (F-SBM) by Aspergillus oryzae, and A. oryzae itself were evaluated on growth performance, feed utilization, immune responses and phosphorus availability in juvenile parrot fish, a marine aquaculture fish species. Four isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets were formulated to contain 8% soybean meal (control diet), 4% Meju (50% soybean meal was replaced by Meju), 4% F-SBM (50% soybean meal was replaced by F-SBM), or 0.08% A. oryzae itself. One of the four experimental diets was fed to triplicate groups of fish for 8 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, no significant differences were found in growth performances and feed utilization. Red blood cell counts in the fish fed the A. oryzae diet were significantly higher than that of fish fed the control diet. The antioxidant activity in Meju diet was significantly higher than that of the control and A. oryzae diets. Fish fed Meju and F-SBM diets showed numerically higher antioxidant activity of serum compared to that of fish fed the control diet, even though it was not significant. Liver superoxide dismutase activity of fish fed the test diets was significantly higher than that of fish fed the control diet. The apparent digestibility coefficients of protein of fish fed all the diets were not significantly different. Phosphorus absorption was numerically increased in fish fed F-SBM and A. oryzae diets compared to that of fish fed the control diet. This study indicates that the fermentation process of soybean meal does not impair growth performance and feed utilization in parrot fish. The fermentation process could enhance the availability of phosphorus in soybean meal and non-specific immune responses of parrot fish.

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We performed four sets of feeding trials to establish optimum feed size (Exp-I), stocking density (Exp-II) and feeding frequency (Exp-III and IV) for Korean rockfish. In Exp-I, three different particle sizes of a commercial diet (small, 2.0-2.1 mm; medium, 2.4-3.2 mm; and large, 4.0-5.3 mm) were fed to four replicate groups of fish (22.8±0.1 g), each of which was fed to apparent satiation for six weeks. In Exp-II, fish (44.3±0.4 g) were reared at four stocking densities (1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0 kg/m 3 ) and fed a commercial diet to apparent satiation for four weeks. In Exp-III, fish (14.8±0.1 g) were fed a commercial diet once, twice, thrice, 4× or 5× a day at a feeding ratio of 3.25% of body mass. Another group of fish was fed the same commercial diet 5× a day to apparent satiation; this treatment was designated FS (five times satiation/day). In Exp-IV, fish (31.3±0.1 g) were fed a commercial diet once, twice, thrice or 4× a day to apparent satiation. Another group of fish was fed to apparent satiation once every 48 hours. In Exp-I, fish fed the large particle (4.0-5.3 mm) diet had a significantly higher feed conversion ratio and lower protein efficiency ratio than fish fed the small particle diet. In Exp-II, groups of fish reared at densities of 4.5 and 6.0 kg/m 3 had significantly higher feed intake and growth performance than fish reared at 1.5 and 3.0 kg/m 3 . In Exp-III, fish fed to apparent satiation had significantly higher growth performances than fish fed once or 4× a day. A significantly higher feed conversion ratio and a lower protein efficiency ratio were obtained in the FS group. In Exp-IV, growth performance and feed utilization efficiency were not significantly affected by experimental variation in feeding frequency. Fish fed to apparent satiation once every 48 hours had better feed utilization than those in other treatments and growth performances of those were comparable. Therefore, the optimum feed particle size, stocking density and feeding frequency for Korean rockfish under conditions we used were 2.0-3.2 mm, 4.5-6.0 kg/m 3 , and once a day or once every 48 hour, respectively.