Growth, flesh adiposity and fatty acid composition of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) families with contrasting flesh adiposity: effects of replacement of dietary fish oil with vegetable oils

The present study compared the effects of diets formulated with reduced fishmeal (FM) content and either 100% fish oil (FO) or 100% of a vegetable oil (VO) blend in post-smolts of three family groups of Atlantic salmon. Two groups were selected as being either “Lean” or “Fat” based on estimated breeding values (EBV) for flesh adiposity of their parents derived from a breeding programme, while the third group (CAL) was a mix of non-pedigreed commercial families unrelated to the two groups above. The VO blend comprised rapeseed, palm and a new product, Camelina oil in a ratio of 5/3/2, and diets were fed to duplicate pens of each salmon group. After an ongrowing period of 55 weeks, to reach a mean weight of 3kg, the fish from all treatments were switched to a decontaminated FO for a further 24 weeks to follow restoration of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) in the fish previously fed VO. Final weights were significantly affected by family group and there was also an interaction between diet and group with Fat and Lean FO fish being larger than the same fish fed VO. Specific growth rate (SGR) was highest in CAL fish (1.01), feed conversion ratio (FCR) was highest in the Lean fish but there were no significant effects on thermal growth coefficient (TGC). Condition Factor (CF) was lowest in CAL fish while the hepato-somatic index (HSI) was highest in Lean fish and viscero-somatic index (VSI) highest in Fat fish. Flesh and viscera lipid content was affected by both family group and diet with a significant interaction between the two. Flesh lipid in fish fed FO was in the order Fat > CAL > Lean although this order was Fat = Lean > CAL when fed VO. Flesh fatty acid compositions were affected mainly by diet although some minor fatty acids were also influenced by group. Fish fed VO had n-3 LC-PUFA reduced by ~65% compared to fish fed FO but this could be restored by a 16 week FO finishing diet phase. The differences observed in lipid and fatty acid deposition suggested that genetics affected lipid deposition and metabolism and that breeding programmes could select for fish that retained more n-3 LC-PUFA in their flesh, particularly when fed diets low in these fatty acids.