Evaluation of dietary creatine and guanidinoacetic acid supplementation in juvenile red drum Sciaenops ocellatus

Two separate comparative feeding trials were conducted to evaluate if supplemental dietary guanidinoacetic acid (GDA), either singly or in combination with creatine, could enhance growth performance of red drum. The basal diet for both trials was formulated with practical ingredients but was not supplemented with creatine or GDA. For the experimental diets, creatine (0 or 20 g/kg) and GDA (0, 5 or 10 g/kg) were added to the basal diet in a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement for trial 1. Another 2 x 3 experimental design was adopted in trial 2 to further evaluate creatine (0 or 20 g/kg) and GDA (0, 10 or 20 g/kg) supplementation. Each diet was fed to juvenile red drum in either quadruplicate (trial 1) or triplicate (trial 2) aquaria twice daily for a total of 8 weeks. After each feeding trial, fish were sampled for body condition indices and whole-body composition analysis, as well as determination of plasma, liver and muscle creatine concentrations. In trial 1, dietary creatine supplementation alone significantly (p < .05) improved weight gain and feed efficiency of red drum. An interaction between creatine and GDA was seen in whole-body protein and lipid in the two trials. In trial 1, the highest levels of whole-body protein and lipid were observed in fish fed 10 g GDA/kg, and in trial 2, supplementation of the diet with 10 g GDA/kg increased muscle protein and muscle lipid although there was a trending decline in fish fed the 20 g/kg GDA-supplemented diet. In both trials of the present study, dietary GDA significantly (p < .05) enhanced liver creatine content. Dietary creatine also significantly (p < .05) enhanced plasma and muscle creatine content of red drum. Based on the results of this study, creatine was effective in enhancing weight gain and feed efficiency of red drum as seen in previous studies; however, GDA was not effective in influencing growth performance but limited synthesis of creatine from dietary GDA was apparent.