Thiamine requirement of Chinese soft‐shelled turtle,Pelodiscus sinensis(Wiegmann)

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to estimate the dietary thiamine (vitamin B 1 ) requirement of juvenile soft-shelled turtles, Pelodiscus sinensis. Eight experimental diets containing 0, 1. 90, 3.63, 5.65, 7.51, 9.62, 11.37 and 13.64 mg thiamine/kg diet were fed to 160 soft-shelled turtles reared individually for 10 weeks. The turtles had an average weight of 5.33 ± 0.21 g. Among all the dietary groups, weight gain, feed utilization and tissue thiamine were the lowest in the turtles fed with a thiamine-free diet. The variables increased when dietary thiamine increased and then levelled off beyond 3.63 mg/kg diet. In contrast, plasma pyruvate and lactate concentrations in turtles decreased when dietary thiamine increased and then levelled off beyond 3.63 and 5.65 mg/kg diet respectively. Estimation using a broken-line regression model, the vitamin B 1 requirement of soft-shelled turtles was 3.2 mg thiamine/kg diet based on weight gain and plasma lactate concentration. When tissue thiamine and plasma pyruvate concentrations were used as the indicators, the estimated requirement was 5.4-6.5 mg/kg diet. K E Y W O R D Slactate, pyruvate, soft-shelled turtle, thiamine, vitamin B 1

Effects of Dietary Phosphorus Levels on Growth Performance, Phosphorus Utilization and Intestinal Calcium and Phosphorus Transport-Related Genes Expression of Juvenile Chinese Soft-Shelled Turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis)

“…Under the dual pressure of aqueous ecological environment protection and the rapidly increasing price of feedstuffs, there is a desperate need to develop a high-efficiency and environmentally friendly compound feed for this species based on its nutrient requirements. Although some literature exists on its protein, carbohydrate, lipid, vitamins, and mineral requirements [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ], little information is available regarding dietary phosphorus requirement of this animal.…”