Growth and feed utilisation of rainbow trout subjected to changes in feed lipid concentrations

Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss grew from 44 to 326 g in 96days when held at ∼12 °C. Fish were fed to satiation twice dailywith either high (L1: 30.8%, L2:31.4%) or lower-lipid feeds (C1: 18.8%,C2: 21.8%). Four feeding treatments were studied.Group C1C2 received feed C1 for 43 days(days 0–43) and C2 thereafter (days 44–96).Groups L1L2, L1C2 andC1L2 were subjected to dietary changes asindicated by the feed designations. After a short period of feedadaptation, fish ingested similar amounts of feed energy i.e., they ateless by weight of the lipid-rich (L) feeds. Feed lipid content did notaffect growth but fish fed L-feed had reduced feed conversion ratio(FCR) compared to fish fed C-feed (0.731 vs. 0.773) during days0–43 (P < 0.01). After 96 days,L1L2-fish were lower in body protein(15.8%) than the C1C2-fish (16.8%)(P < 0.01). L-feeds also tended to increase percentage lipidand reduce percentage whole body moisture and ash. A higher net proteinutilisation (NPU) was recorded in fish fed L-feeds (43.6%)compared to fish fed C-feeds (38.8%) in days 0–43(P < 0.05). This seemed to be the result of a lower proteinintake rather than a protein-sparing effect of feed lipid. Above athreshold value of approximately 6.5 mg protein eaten·g bodywtminus 1·day−1, NPU decreased.