Nutritional lipid requirement of pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus): growth and fatty acid composition

• Grant number: 11/16712-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2011
• End date: October 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Fishery Resources and Fishery Engineering - Aquaculture
• Principal Investigator: Ligia Uribe Gonçalves
• Grantee: Núbio Vinícius Gomes da Silva
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Lipids are important source of energy in fish diets and its use spares the protein that can be allocated for growth rather than being consumed as an energy source. The vegetable meals and oils are considered the main alternative sustainable on replacement of fish meal and fish oil in aquaculture feed. However, this substitution may cause changes in the fatty acid (FA) profile of fish tissue, increasing the levels of FA in the n-6 series (linoleic acid) and reducing the n-3 series (EPA and DHA). Thus, important questions must be evaluated on the use of vegetable oils in fish diets in relation to growth and fatty acid composition of the muscle. The aim with this work is to determine the lipid requirement of pacu fed for 90 days with diets prepared from the combination of oils with different compositions in fatty acids (oils: fish, soy, corn, flaxseed and canola) at different levels of inclusion (0, 4, 8, 12 and 16%). It will be conducted the analysis of: feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion, protein efficiency ratio, specific growth rate, survival, hepato-somatic and lipo-somatic indexs. In addition, at the end of the experiment, ten fish will be sacrificed of each replicate; five fish for analysis of proximate composition and the other five for the determination of the fatty acid profile on muscle. (AU)