Methionine Coated with Various Materials Supplemented to Soybean Meal Diet for Fingerling Carp Cyprinus carpio and Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus

Abstract

A six week feeding experiment was conducted to study effects of methionine coated with various materials added to soybean meal diet on growth and feed efficiency of fingerling carp and channel catfish. the coating materials used were aldehyde treated casein, acid treated casein, and hydrogenated tallow. Supplements of methionine, either coated or uncoated, significantly improved growth and feed efficiency of both species. In carp, addition of methionine coated with aldehyde treated casein significantly enhanced growth over that of uncoated methionine. But in channel catfish, coating methionine with any type of material did not significantly improve the utilization of supplemented methionine. Comparded to the group fed the diet with uncoated methionine, addition of methionine coated with acid treated casein to the diet significantly depressed the growth of channel catfish. These results indicate that both carp and channel carfish can utilize crystalline methionine supplmented to soybean meal and that utilization of crystalline methionine by carp can be improved further by coating it with aldehyde treated casein.