Dietary leucine requirement of juvenile Japanese seabass (Lateolabrax japonicus)

A 56-day feeding trial was conducted to examine the dietary leucine requirement of juvenile Japanese seabass in seawater floating net cages (1.5 m x 1.5 m x 2.0 m). Six isonitrogenous (crude protein 40%) and isoenergetic (gross energy 20 kJ g(-1)) diets were formulated to contain different concentrations of leucine (0.9%, 1.49%, 2.07%, 2.70%, 3.30% and 3.88% of dry matter). Crystalline L-amino acids were supplemented to simulate the whole body amino acid pattern of Japanese seabass except for leucine. Three groups (30 fish individuals each, 8.0 g +/- 0.20 g in initial weight) were fed to apparent satiation at 5:00 and 17:30 every day. During the experimental period, the water temperature ranged from 26 to 32 delta C and salinity from 26 to 30, and the dissolved oxygen was maintained at 7 mg L-1. The results showed that weight gain (WG), nitrogen retention (NR), feed efficiency (FE) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) were significantly increased when dietary leucine was increased from 0.90% to 2.70% of dry matter, and then declined. WG was the highest when fish were fed D4 containing 2.70% of leucine. No significant differences were observed in body composition among dietary treatments (P > 0.05). Considering the change of WG, the optimum dietary leucine requirement of juvenile Japanese seabass was either 2.39% of dry matter or 5.68% of dietary protein.