Minimizing fish oil and fish meal with plant-based alternatives in sunshine bass diets without negatively impacting growth and muscle fatty acid profile

We determined whether canola oil could spare menhaden oil (MO) in diets containing minimal fish meal without affecting sunshine bass, Morone chrysops x Morone saxatilis, production. Seven isonitrogenous, isocaloric (41.7% crude protein and 14.6% crude lipid) diets containing graded levels (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, or 100%) of menhaden to canola oils with 20% menhaden meal (MM) or 100% canola oil with 20% lipid-extracted MM were fed to sunshine bass (initial weight 9.3 +/- 0.16 g; mean +/- SD) twice daily to apparent satiation for 10 wk. Sunshine bass fed less than 40% of their dietary lipid as MO exhibited significantly (P < 0.05) lower feed intake and growth rates. Increased concentrations of saturated, n-3, and n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (FA) in the fillet were associated with MO-rich diets, while monounsaturated and n-6 FA were most common in fillets from fish fed diets rich in canola oil. Reducing MO to 40% of the dietary lipid in diets containing minimal fish meal allows for efficient utilization of marine resources without negatively impacting juvenile sunshine bass production.