Dietary lysine requirement of juvenile Silver pompano, Trachinotus blochii (Lacepede, 1801)

A 12-week feeding trial was conducted to quantify the dietary lysine requirement of juvenile silver pompano with an initial average weight of 6.28 g reared in indoor recirculatory system. Six treatment diets were designed with isonitrogenous, isolipidic and isoenergetic diets. (42% CP, 6% CL and 4.28 kcal g(-1) GE) were formulated with graded levels of lysine (1.52, 1.85, 2.21, 2.49, 2.74 and 2.98 g/100 g, dry diet). Equal amino acid nitrogen was maintained by replacing lysine with nonessential amino acid mixture. Fish were randomly stocked, in triplicate groups, in 180 L indoor glass rectangular tanks with recirculatory system and fed to apparent satiation over two feedings at 10:00 and 16:00 h daily during the experimental period. The results indicated that there were significant differences in growth and feed utilization among the treatments. Fish fed diets with lysine in different treatments showed high survival rate (95-100%). Maximum weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) occurred at 2.21% dietary lysine. The hepatosomatic index (HSI), viscerosomatic index (VSI) and crude protein content in whole body were significantly affected by dietary lysine levels. There were significant differences (P < .05) in total serum protein levels and erythrocyte count in fish fed diets with different dietary lysine levels. No significant differences were observed in the levels of serum glucose, triglycerides and creatinine levels among the treatments. In the present study, optimization of fitted quadratic regression of weight gain%, SGR, PER and FER on lysine in diet revealed that the optimum lysine requirement of silver pompano was in the range of 2.40-2.45% of dry diet (5.71-5.83% of dietary crude protein). Statement of relevance: First report of lysine requirement of juvenile silver pompano.