The effects of dietary digestible protein and digestible energy content on protein retention efficiency of juvenile silver perch Bidyanus bidyanus (Mitchell)

Effects of varying dietary digestible protein (DP) and digestible energy (DE) on protein retention efficiency (PRE), weight gain, protein deposition and carcass composition for silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus, Mitchell) were studied. Using digestibility data for silver perch, we formulated three series of diets with different DE contents (13, 15 or 17 MJ DE kg-1). For each series, a 'summit' diet containing an excess of protein for silver perch (based on previous research) and a 'diluent' diet with only 10-13% DP were formulated. By blending the summit and diluent diets together in different ratios, five diets with different DP contents were produced for each DE series. A commercial diet was also included to give 16 experimental diets in total. Eight juvenile fish (mean initial weight 1.2 g) were stocked into each of 64 x 70-L acrylic aquaria and then each of the 16 diets was randomly allocated to four replicate aquaria. Tanks were supplied with partially recirculated water (75%) at 25-27°C. Fish were fed restrictively, twice per day, based initially on 3.5% body weight day-1 with 40% of the ration given at 08:30 hours and 60% given at 15:00 hours for 59 days. Quadratic functions were fitted to each energy series to describe the relationship between DP content of diets and PRE (the asymptote of these functions were used to predict maximum PRE). For low DE (13 MJ kg-1), mid-DE (15 MJ kg-1) and high DE (17 MJ kg-1), the dietary DP contents to give maximum PRE were 24.7%, 26.1% and 30.1% respectively. Carcass fat decreased with increasing DP and increasing DP:DE ratio. Varying the dietary protein and DE also influenced other indices of fish performance. 'Optimum' dietary protein therefore depends on several factors. For fish fed, restrictively, the protein content needed to maximize PRE is lower than the content needed to maximize weight gain or minimize carcass fat. For fish fed to satiation, the lowest protein content for maximum weight gain is lower than for fish fed restrictively.