The replacement of fish oil with refined coconut oil in the diet of large rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Three hundred rainbow trout (242.9 +/- 6.9 g) were randomly assigned to 12 fibreglass tanks (25 fish/tank). The fish were fed, for 231 days (feeding level: 0.74% average bw), four experimental diets, containing increasing levels of coconut oil: diet A 0%, diet B 6%; diet C 12% and diet D 13%, as replacements of herring oil and cod liver oil. Weight gains of fish were > 3 g d(-1) and FCR lower than 1.5, for all treatments. No significant difference was observed in the main carcass traits and whole body composition, but whole fish energy content significantly increased in fish fed diet D (10.68 KJ g(-1)). Different dietary fatty acid profiles had significant effects on the rainbow trout muscle contents of C10:0, C12:0, C14:0, total n-3, and the main ratios: SFA/USFA; DHA/EPA; DHA/AA, n-3/n-6, but not on total fatty acids content of the muscle.