Samad Rahimnejad

Effects of protein hydrolysates supplementation in low fish meal diets on growth performance, innate immunity and disease resistance of red sea bream Pagrus major

This study was conducted to evaluate the supplemental effects of three different types of protein hydrolysates in a low fish meal (FM) diet on growth performance, feed utilization, intestinal morphology, innate immunity and disease resistance of juvenile red sea bream. A FM-based diet was used as a high fish meal diet (HFM) and a low fish meal (LFM) diet was prepared by replacing 50% of FM by soy protein concentrate. Three other diets were prepared by supplementing shrimp, tilapia or krill hydrolysate to the LFM diet (designated as SH, TH and KH, respectively). Triplicate groups of fish (4.9 ± 0.1 g) were fed one of the test diets to apparent satiation twice daily for 13 weeks and then challenged by Edwardsiella tarda. At the end of the feeding trial, significantly (P < 0.05) higher growth performance was obtained in fish fed HFM and hydrolysate treated groups compared to those fed the LFM diet. Significant improvements in feed conversion and protein efficiency ratios were obtained in fish fed the hydrolysates compared to those fed the LFM diet. Significant enhancement in digestibility of protein was found in fish fed SH and KH diets and dry matter digestibility was increased in the group fed SH diet in comparison to LFM group. Fish fed the LFM diet showed significantly higher glucose level than all the other treatments. Whole-body and dorsal muscle compositions were not significantly influenced by dietary treatments. Histological analysis revealed significant reductions in goblet cell numbers and enterocyte length in the proximal intestine of fish fed the LFM diet. Superoxide dismutase activity and total immunoglobulin level were significantly increased in fish fed the diets containing protein hydrolysates compared to the LFM group. Also, significantly higher lysozyme and antiprotease activities were found in fish fed the hydrolysates and HFM diets compared to those offered LFM diet. Fish fed the LFM diet exhibited the lowest disease resistance against E. tarda and dietary inclusion of the hydrolysates resulted in significant enhancement of survival rate. The results of the current study indicated that the inclusion of the tested protein hydrolysates, particularly SH, in a LFM diet can improve growth performance, feed utilization, digestibility, innate immunity and disease resistance of juvenile red sea bream.

Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Spirulina and Quercetin on Growth, Innate Immune Responses, Disease Resistance Against Edwardsiella tarda, and Dietary Antioxidant Capacity in the Juvenile Olive Flounder Paralichthys olivaceus

A 10-week feeding trial was conducted to examine the effects of dietary spirulina and quercetin on growth, innate immunity, disease resistance and dietary antioxidant capacity in the juvenile olive flounder. Triplicate groups of fish (initial body weight, 2.9 ± 0.01 g) were fed one of isonitrogenous (48% crude protein) and isocaloric (17.4 MJ/kg DM) experimental diets containing 0% spirulina (as a control), 3.4% spirulina, or 6.8% spirulina with or without supplementation of 0.5% quercetin (designated as CON, SP3.4, SP6.8, and SP6.8 + Q, respectively) at a rate of 3% body mass twice daily. Higher dietary antioxidant capacity was found with spirulina supplementation, and the highest value (P < 0.05) was obtained with SP6.8 + Q diet. At the end of the feeding trial, no significant effects were observed on growth performance, body composition and disease resistance against Edwardsiella tarda. Lysozyme activity was significantly increased by spirulina supplementation (P < 0.05), and the highest value was observed in the group fed SP6.8 + Q diet. Also, significantly higher respiratory burst activity (P < 0.05) was found in SP3.4 group. According to the results of this study, dietary supplementation of 3.4% spirulina may enhance innate immunity of olive flounder.

Comparison of Growth Performance and Whole-body Amino Acid Composition in Red Seabream (Pagrus major) Fed Free or Dipeptide Form of Phenylalanine

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the dipeptide form of phenylalanine as a new source of amino acid in terms of growth performance and whole-body amino acid composition in comparison to the free form for red seabream (Pagrus major). Fish (1.46±0.001 g) were fed four isonitrogenous and isocaloric experimental diets containing 0.7 or 1.4% phenylalanine either in free or dipeptide form. A feeding trial was carried out in three replicates and the fish were fed to apparent satiation for six weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, feed intake of fish was influenced by both phenylalanine form and level and significantly higher values were obtained at an inclusion level of 0.7% and by the use of dipeptide form. However, the other growth parameters did not significantly differ among treatments. Whole-body amino acid compositions revealed no significant changes in concentrations of both essential and non-essential amino acids regardless of the increase in phenylalanine levels or the use of its different forms. The finding in this study indicates that juvenile red seabream can utilize dipeptide phenylalanine as efficiently as free form without any undesirable effects on growth performance or whole-body amino acid composition.

Choline Essentiality and Its Requirement in Diets for Juvenile Parrot Fish (Oplegnathus fasciatus)

A 12-wk feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the essentiality of choline supplementation in diets for parrot fish. Five isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets were supplemented with 0 (as control), 500, 1,000, and 2,000 mg choline per kg diet, and a positive control diet without choline contained 0.3% of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol as choline biosynthesis inhibitor (designated as Con, C500, C1000, C2000 and Con+, respectively). Triplicate groups of fish (body weight, 8.8±0.01 g) were fed one of the experimental diets at a rate of 4% body weight twice daily. The fish fed Con+ diet revealed significantly lower growth performance and feed utilization efficiency than other fish groups. Supplementation of choline to the basal diet did not significantly influence fish growth. The highest liver lipid content was observed in fish fed the Con+ diet and inversely correlated with liver choline concentration although the differences were not significant. Also, significantly higher liver linoleic, eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acid contents were found in fish fed the Con+ diet. Innate immune parameters including respiratory burst and myeloperoxidase activities were not significantly affected by dietary choline levels. The findings in this study conclude that choline concentration of approximately 230 mg kg−1 diet meets the requirement of parrot fish.

Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Barodon, an Anionic Alkali Mineral Complex, on Growth Performance, Feed Utilization, Innate Immunity, Goblet Cell and Digestibility in Olive Flounder ( Paralichthys olivaceus )

A 15-wk feeding trial was conducted to examine the supplemental effects of Barodon on growth performance, gastrointestinal histology, feed digestibility and innate immunity in olive founder. A basal commercial diet was used as a control and two other diets were prepared by spraying 0.1% or 0.2% of Barodon. Triplicate groups of fish (BW, 145 g) were fed one of the test diets to apparent satiation twice daily. At the end of the feeding trial, fish growth performance was not significantly affected by dietary treatments; however, feed utilization was significantly improved (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) by Barodon supplementation. Significantly higher (p<0.05) survival rates were obtained in fish fed Barodon containing diets. Hepatosomatic index increased significantly in Barodon treated groups. Also, the use of Barodon resulted in significant increase (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) of intestine length and number of goblet cells. Significantly higher (Quadratic, p<0.05) apparent digestibility coefficient of DM was obtained by supplementation of Barodon. Lysozyme and myeloperoxidase activities increased quadratically and linearly, respectively, in Barodon treated fish. Also, significantly higher (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) superoxide dismutase activity was found in Barodon fed fish. The findings in this study show that inclusion of Barodon in diets for olive flounder improves feed utilization and digestibility, and positively affects digestive tract histology and innate immunity.

Comparison of Free and Dipeptide Lysine Utilization in Diets for Juvenile Olive Flounder Paralichthys olivaceus

Abstract We compared the utilization efficiency of free lysine (FL) and dipeptide lysine–glycine (LG) in terms of growth performance and whole-body amino acid composition in olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus . A basal experimental diet was formulated to con-tain 0.5% (basal) lysine from fish meal, and four other diets were prepared by supplementing 0.5% or 1.0% of either FL or LG. The experiment was performed in triplicate, and 20 randomly selected fish averaging 5.41 ± 0.16 g were fed one of the test diets at the rate of 3% BW/day twice daily for 6 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, fish fed the basal diet showed significantly less weight gain than did the other groups. The results of a two-way ANOVA showed that both lysine level ( P = 0.001) and type ( P = 0.034) influenced growth rate; however, we found no significant interaction between lysine level and form ( P > 0.05). Our results revealed a significant improvement in protein efficiency ratio (PER) with each increment of dietary lysine, and the groups fed LG-supplemented diets showed higher PER than did those offered FL. Hepatosomatic and viscerosomatic indices were significantly in-fluenced by lysine level and form, and higher values were recorded in fish fed diets containing LG. Significantly higher whole-body arginine levels were found in LG-fed groups, and a significant interaction was observed between lysine level and form (

Molecular characterization of p38 MAPK from blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) and its expression after ammonia stress, and lipopolysaccharide and bacterial challenge

p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) is an important protein which plays a key role in regulating the innate immunity, so exploring its molecular characterization is helpful in understanding the resistance against microbial infections in cultured fish. Here, a full-length cDNA of p38 MAPK was cloned from liver of blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) which covered 2419 bp with an open reading frame of 1086 bp encoding 361 amino acids. p38 MAPK contained the characteristic structures of Thr-Gly-Tyr (TGY) motif and substrate binding site Ala-Thr-Arg-Trp (ATRW), which are conserved in MAPK family. To investigate p38 MAPK functions, two in vivo experiments were carried out to examine its expression following ammonia exposure and bacterial challenge. Also, an in vitro experiment was conducted to assess the role of p38 MAPK in inflammation of primary hepatocytes induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The results showed the ubiquitous expression of p38 MAPK in all the tested tissues with varying levels. p38 MAPK mRNA expression was significantly up-regulated by ammonia stress and Aeromonas hydrophila challenge, and altered in a time-dependent manner. Moreover, the results indicated that the inflammatory response induced by LPS in hepatocytes is p38 MAPK dependent as knockdown of p38 MAPK using siRNA technology depressed the expression of IL-1β and IL-6. The findings in this study showed that p38 MAPK has anti-stress property, and plays key role in protection against bacterial infection and inflammation in blunt snout bream.