Inclusion of Oligosaccharide in Soybean Meal Diet for Fingerling Yellowtail

Abstract

In order to investigate the effects of dietary oligosaccharide on the growth, feed conversion and body composition of fingerling yellowtail, Seriola quinqueradiata, the fish were fed for 30 days on soybean meal diets containing 0-3 % isomalto-oligosaccharide. The dietary inclusion of 0.5 % oligosaccharide significantly elevated many serum components such as protein and phospholipid, and it also improved fairly the growth rate, feed efficiency and protein efficiency ratio, showing similar responses to those of the fish fed on a reference diet which was high in fish meal and free from soybean meal. On the other hand, the dietary inclusion of 1 or 3 % oligosaccharide did not show such a growth-enhancing effect, rather performed similarly to the control diet group. These results suggest that inclusion of oligosaccharide in soybean meal diet can improve the growth and health of the fish like mammals, and that its appropriate concentration is likely to be 0.5 %.