Growth Performance and Proximate and Fatty Acid Compositions of Channel Catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, Fed for Different Duration with a Commercial Diet Supplemented with Various Levels of Menhaden Fish Oil

Abstract

A 15‐wk study was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplemental menhaden fish oil levels and feeding duration on growth performance and tissue proximate and fatty acid (FA) compositions of juvenile channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus. Dietary fish oil levels had no effect on final weight gain, feed efficiency, and survival of channel catfish. Tissue lipid contents were directly correlated to dietary lipid levels, while moisture contents were inversely related to dietary lipid levels. Fillet moisture contents progressively decreased, whereas fillet lipid increased with increasing feeding duration. Significant increase in saturated and total n‐3 FAs and decrease in monoenoic and total n‐6 FA in whole body and fillet were observed at each incremental level of dietary fish oil. Percentages of n‐3 and n‐3 highly unsaturated fatty acids in fillet of fish fed the control and 3% fish oil diets decreased with increasing feeding periods, whereas those of fish fed 6 or 9% added fish oil diets remained stable or increased. Ratios of n‐3/n‐6 were statistically comparable throughout the 15‐wk feeding. When expressed in terms of mg/g of fillet, the highest concentration of n‐3 was obtained in fillets of fish fed the 9% added fish oil diet for 15 wk.

Growth performance, vitamin E status, and proximate and fatty acid composition of channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, fed diets containing various levels of fish oil and vitamin E

“…Whole-body proximate composition of channel catfish was unaffected by dietary levels of vitamin E. Similar results were obtained by Watanabe et al (1977) and Huang and Huang (2004) for common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and hybrid tilapia, respectively. Increasing supplemental fish oil levels from 6 to 10 or 14% significantly increased whole-body lipid and decreased moisture, as has been reported for several fish species fed increasing dietary lipid levels (Viola et al 1988;De Silva et al 1991;Stowell and Gatlin 1992;Chou and Shiau 1996;Perres and OlivaTeles 1999;Yildirim-Aksoy et al 2007). No further increase in body fat deposition was observed when dietary fish oil levels were increased from 10 to 14%.…”

“…The non-significant effect of dietary fish oil levels on feed intake has also been reported for channel catfish by Twibell and Wilson (2003) and Yildirim-Aksoy et al (2007).…”

“…After series of liquid-liquid phase separations, centrifugation, and evaporation under nitrogen, the lipid fractions were methylated with boron trifluoride-methanol solution. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) were analyzed with a PerkinElmer Clarus-500 gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometry detector (Perkin-Elmer, Shelton, CT) as described in Yildirim-Aksoy et al (2007). Relative concentrations were calculated and expressed as mass-percentages of the total identified fatty acids.…”

“…Early research has shown that fatty acid composition of fat in fish tissues is influenced by dietary fatty acid composition (Stickney and Andrews 1971;Gatlin and Stickney 1982;Janncke et al 1988;Grigorakis et al 2002;Chen et al 1995). Channel catfish fed diets supplemented with fish oil had significantly increased concentrations of n-3 HUFA (Abdel-Aty 1989; Li et al 1994;Fracalossi and Lovell 1995;Manning and Li 2002;YildirimAksoy et al 2007), and the tissue concentrations of n-3 HUFA increased with increasing dietary levels of fish oil and feeding duration (Abdel-Aty 1989;Li et al 1994;Yildirim-Aksoy et al 2007). This, coupled with the current public awareness of the health benefits of consuming fish high in n-3 HUFA, has stimulated interests among catfish producers in adding marine fish oil to catfish diets.…”

Increasing Fish Oil Levels in Commercial Diets Influences Hematological and Immunological Responses of Channel Catfish, Ictalurus punctatus

“…After a series of liquid–liquid phase separations, centrifugation, and evaporation under nitrogen, the lipid fractions were methylated with boron trifluoride–methanol solution. Fatty acid methyl esters were analyzed with a Perkin‐Elmer Clarus‐500 gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometry detector (Perkin‐Elmer, Shelton, CT, USA) as described in Yildirim‐Aksoy et al (2007a). Relative concentration of fatty acids was calculated and expressed as mass percentages of the identified fatty acids.…”