Low-Lipid Diets Fed at Reduced Ration: Effects on Growth, Body Composition, and Survival of Juvenile Chinook Salmon

There is a growing demand within research and conservation hatcheries to rear fish that more closely approximate the smaller size and leaner body composition of their wild counterparts. Low-lipid diets may help achieve this goal as they can provide all the nutritional needs of young fish and can lead to slower growth and leaner bodies. We compared growth of Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha fed three experimental low-lipid diets (11-12, 8-9, 4-6% lipid) at the onset of feeding with a commercially available high-lipid diet (18-20%) and an experimentally formulated high-lipid control (13.9% lipid). After 5 mo on their respective treatments, the size, growth rate, and daily growth index of fish on the commercial diet were significantly higher than those on the three low-lipid diets. We also compared whole-body lipid content across our five diet treatments. Whole-body lipid content was significantly different across the five diets, with fish fed the commercial diet having, on average, an almost twofold higher lipid content over fish fed the lowest lipid diet formulation. We present comparable data from a limited sample of wild juvenile conspecifics as observations. We suggest that low-lipid starter diets can be used to produce healthy fish that more likely emulate some of the variations in size and body composition of wild fish.