مشخصات پژوهش

tThis study investigated the effects of starvation and subsequent refeeding on growth, feedutilization, body composition, hematological indices and some morphological and plasmabiochemical parameters of Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) with average initial weightof 19.32 ± 0.62 g (mean ± SE). The fish were exposed to four feeding regimes: the controlgroup (C) was fed four times daily to apparent satiation throughout the experiment. Fishin the other three treatments were deprived of food for 2, 4, or 8 days followed by 8, 16,or 32 days of refeeding (T1, T2and T3, respectively) in repeated cycles during an 80 daysfeeding trial. At the end of the experiment, there were no significant differences in finalweight (except for T2group), growth and feeding performance, whole body composition,hepatosomatic index and digestive somatic index between the deprived and control fish(P > 0.05). Feeding strategies seemed to have a significant effect only on the protein content(P < 0.05). At the end of the experiment, protein content of T3 group fish was significantlylower than the other treatments (P < 0.05). The levels of total plasma protein and triglyc-eride were significantly higher in T3group than those in T1, T2and control groups (P < 0.05).Starvation was found to significantly affect white blood cell count at the end of the exper-iment (P < 0.05). The present results suggested that Siberian sturgeon subjected to 2 and8 days of food deprivation and refeeding exhibited complete compensation. Therefore, itcan be concluded that the magnitude of compensatory growth depended on the length ofstarvation. Also, this species could recover in growth performance and some morphologicaland biochemical parameters following a period of starvation.