Effects of vitamin D3 supplementation in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) juveniles fed diets high in plant based feedstuffs

Modern aquaculture feeds tend to contain lower levels of fish based ingredients, while increasing the content of plant ingredients. However, this may alter the vitamin profile of the feeds, leading to unbalanced vitamin supply. Requirements for several vitamins have been established for species such as carps and salmonids, but adequate levels for gilthead sea bream are yet unknown.Vitamin D is mainly involved in Ca homeostasis by regulating Ca uptake and liberation from bone intervening in bone remodeling. Fish are unable to synthesize vitamin D and so require absorbing it directly from the diet, thus, it is considered essential for fish. A practical plant-based diet containing 10% fish meal and 6% fish oil containing five levels of vitamin D₃ (0.15, 0.43, 0.50, 0.55 and 0.65 mg kg⁻¹ or 5.8, 17.0, 20.0, 22.0 and 26.0 IU g⁻¹) were formulated to identify the optimum levels for gilthead seabream juveniles. Feeding juveniles of gilthead seabream with a range of vitamin D₃ levels between 5.8 and 26.0 IU g⁻¹ for 70 days did not markedly alter growth. Increase dietary vitamin D₃ significantly raised the liver contents in vitamin D₃ in a dose-dependent manner following a potential regression. Increased dietary vitamin D₃ levels up to 11.6 IU g⁻¹ may reduce the incidence of skeletal anomalies, particularly caudal and maxillary anomalies, whereas further elevation of dietary vitamin D₃ levels increased the concentration of vitamin D₃ in liver as well as skeletal anomalies in association to the up-regulation of alp and bmp2 gene expression. The occurrence of myocarditis signs in fish fed vitamin D₃ levels of 20.0 IU g⁻¹ or more denote the toxic effects of these dietary levels. These results, together with the increased occurrence of skeletal anomalies in seabream fed the highest dietary vitamin D₃ levels, suggest initial signs of hypervitaminosis D. Thus, the recommended level for vitamin D₃ for gilthead seabream juveniles fed diets containing high levels of plant ingredients was suggested to be 11.6 IU g⁻¹.