A 56-day nutritional research was performed to examine the influence of alternative vegetal protein and lipid sources on performance of yellowfin seabream fry (Acanthopagrus latus) (0.5 ± 0.0 g). In this regard, five isoproteic (Ca. 500 g/kg) and isolipidic (Ca. 150 g/kg) diets were formulated in which fish meal (FM) and fish oil (FO) were simultaneously replaced with blends of plant proteins (PP, soybean meal and corn gluten) and vegetal oils (VO, canola and soybean oils) at 20% (SR20), 40% (SR40), 60% (SR40) and 80% (SR80) levels, respectively; meanwhile, a control diet (SR0) was formulated based on FM and FO. Growth and feed utilization were not influenced by experimental diets. The fatty acid profile of fillet drastically altered by dietary treatments. Fish fed with the SR60 and SR80 feeds had higher total protease, trypsin and α-amylase activities than other treatments. The antioxidant enzyme activities and glutathione content in liver were enhanced in fish fed with the SR40, SR60 and SR80 diets. Skin mucosal immune parameters including total protein content, alkaline phosphatase and alternative complement pathway activities in the control group were relatively lower than the vegetal treatments. According to these results, it is recommended that 410 g/kg of FM and 45 g of FO/kg can be replaced with alternative vegetal sources in diet for A. latus fry.
Aim: The aim of the current research was to examine the impact of gradual and simultaneous substitution of dietary FM and FO with mixed PP and VO on performance and physiological responses of A. latus fry.
Methodology: The present research was performed at the Aquatic Research Laboratory of Persian Gulf University (Bushehr, Iran). Four hundred and fifty A. latus fry (0.5 ± 0.0, mean ± SE) were stocked into 15,300-L cylindrical polyethylene tanks. The husbandry system was supplied with sand-filtered, chlorinated and UV-disinfected seawater, and once a day, about 70% of water was exchanged. Before feeding trial, fis