Apparent Digestibility of Selected Feed Ingredients in Juvenile Turbot (Scophthalmus maxima L.)

In aquaculture, replacing dietary fishmeal with other protein sources is challenging. In order to select substitute sources, it is necessary to determine the apparent digestibility coefficients, many of which have not been well characterized for fish species. We investigated the apparent digestibility of eight protein sources fed to juvenile turbot (Scophthalmus maxima L.). These were Peruvian super red fishmeal (FM), peanut meal (PM), corn gluten meal (CGM), dehulled solvent extracted soybean meal (SBM), wheat gluten (WG), Australian beef meat and bone meal (MBM), spray-dried (pork) hemoglobin meal (SDHM) and American pet-food grade poultry byproduct meal (PBM). The apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), gross energy (GE), and amino acids were analyzed. Results indicated that turbot utilized high-protein feedstuffs better than high-carbohydrate or high-fiber feedstuffs. This study provides valuable information on ingredient selection and evaluation of feed for turbot.