An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of supplemental dietary L-carnitine, chromium picolinate (Cr-Pic) and their combination on growth performance and serum total protein, cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). A total of 276 rainbow trout were randomly allocated to four groups. Fish (average initial body weight = 151 ± 1.69 g) were fed a basal diet without supplemental L-carnitine and chromium picolinate in the control group. The basal diet was supplemented with either 500 mg/kg L-carnitine, 1.6 mg/kg chromium picolinate or 500 mg/kg L-carnitine plus 1.6 mg/kg chromium picolinate for experimental groups 1 (C), 2 (Cr-Pic) and 3 (C ? Cr-Pic), respectively. Fish were fed twice a day to apparent satiation for 58 days. Weight gain, growth rate, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio (feed/ gain) were calculated for the whole period. At the end of the study, six fish were chosen randomly from each tank to represent the experiment and frozen at -20°C for subsequent dorsal muscle analysis. The results showed no significant differences in final body weight, weight gain or feed conversion ratio among groups. There were also no significant differences in serum total protein, cholesterol, triglyceride or glucose concentrations among groups. Significantly higher lipid concentration of dorsal muscle was observed in experimental groups 1 and 3. In conclusion, supplemental dietary L-carnitine, chromium picolinate and their combination have no beneficial effects on improving growth performance and feed conversion ratio in rainbow trout. However, dietary L-carnitine slightly increased lipid concentration in dorsal muscle of rainbow trout.

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The objective of this study was to organise a national mechanism that would allow to effectively promote and control the gentle handling and release of accidentally caught sturgeons with the participation of the fishery while at the same time testing the effectiveness of such measures through tagging and continuous monitoring. A second objective was to develop through this exercise a participatory conservation strategy for sturgeons which is jointly executed by the research institutions, governmental agencies and commercial fishery. The samples of Acipenseridae which were captured accidentally in the fishing nets from the commercial fishers were released to sea after tagging with plastic T-bar tag and all the information about the fish species such as fish weight and length, capture locality, depth were recorded. Within these applications, carried out in collaboration with the Fisheries Cooperatives and fishermen in the Black Sea region, 99 fish (9, 22, 48 and 20 for the years 2006-2009, respectively) were tagged and released to the sea. Five of the tagged fish were re-captured and released again after recording the information on the tags.

As from January 2010 The Israeli Journal of Aquaculture-Bamidgeh (IJA) will be published exclusively as an on-line Open Access (OA) quarterly accessible by all AquacultureHub (http://www.aquaculturehub.org) members and registered individuals and institutions. Please visit our website (http://siamb.org.il) for free registration form, further information and instructions. This transformation from a subscription printed version to an on-line OA journal, aims at supporting the concept that scientific peer-reviewed publications should be made available to all, including those with limited resources. The OA IJA does not enforce author or subscription fees and will endeavor to obtain alternative sources of income to support this policy for as long as possible.

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