Effects of feeding frequency on juvenile Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis

Abstract

In this study, the effects of different feeding frequencies on the growth and the expression of genes in the GH/IGF axis were assessed in juvenile Chinese sturgeon. The newly hatched Chinese sturgeons were bred for 38 days at three different feeding frequencies groups (feeding frequency of two times a day, TWD; three times a day, THD; and four times a day, FOD), and the expression levels of the GH/IGF axis responses to feeding frequency were determined by quantitative real-time PCR. In addition, the full-length of the Coding Sequences of IGF I and IGF II genes (489-bp and 660-bp, respectively), were cloned and analyzed from Chinese sturgeon the first time. Multiple sequence alignments of IGFs revealed that Chinese sturgeon are high sequence identity to IGFs from other species. The phylogenetic relationships based on the IGF I and IGF II amino acid sequences were consistent with the traditional classification. After 38 days of growth, the three different feeding frequencies groups of Chinese sturgeon had no significant difference of body length, body weight, specific growth rate, the survival rate, the rate of weight gain and the condition factor. However, the relative expression of Chinese sturgeon GH in the pituitary decreased with increasing feeding frequency. The relative expression of Chinese sturgeon GHR in liver and skeletal muscle was deceased with increasing feeding frequency, while the relative expression of GHR in stomach and intestines at THD group was significantly higher than that of at TWD group and FOD group (p < 0.05). The relative expression of Chinese sturgeon IGF I in liver increased significantly with increasing feeding frequency (p < 0.05). The relative expression of IGF I in stomach and skeletal muscle was similar at the three groups. The relative expression of IGF I in intestines was significantly higher at FOD group than at TWD group and THD group (p < 0.05). The relative expression of Chinese sturgeon IGF II in liver at TWD group was significantly higher than that at THD group and FOD group (p < 0.05). However, the relative expression of IGF II in stomach, intestines and skeletal muscle at THD group was higher than that at TWD group and FOD group. Based on these previous studies that liver IGF I is regarded as a biomarker of growth performance, this result suggested that the juvenile Chinese sturgeon is better for growth when feeding four times daily compared to twice and thrice daily.

Seasonal Changes of Growth, Immune Parameters and Liver Function in Wild Chinese Sturgeons Under Indoor Conditions: Implication for Artificial Rearing

“…Chinese sturgeons are benthic fish that prefer sandy bottom ( Gu et al, 2008 ) and tend to spawn on gravel and pebble upstream river bed, with sediment diameter in the range of 50–500 mm ( Yi et al, 2013 ). An increase in feeding frequency from 2 or 3 to 4 times a day has also resulted in faster growth in young Chinese sturgeons ( Hu et al, 2020 ). In the present study, associated gravel and pebble were absent from the indoor rearing tank, which may not provide an optimal condition for the two Chinese sturgeons under study, therefore, the addition of gravel and pebbles obtained from rivers inhabited by Chinese sturgeon was considered for indoor culture.…”

Analysis of the death causes in sturgeon fish on a farming environment

“…Вирощування цього виду на підприємстві відбувається шляхом застосування монокультури з метою отримання ікри. Враховуючі природні умови області, розведення осетрів відбувається в басейнах, які знаходяться в закритих приміщеннях (Raluca et al, 2018) (Nonnotte et al, 2018;Hu et al, 2020;Osepchuk et al, 2020). За свідченням персоналу господарства, у риби зникав апетит, змінювалася форма пересування та наступала загибель.…”