Evaluation of the Efficacy of Fermented By-product of Mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus, as a Fish Meal Replacer in Juvenile Amur Catfish, Silurus asotus: Effects on Growth, Serological Characteristics and Immune Responses

The present experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of dietary fermented by-product of mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus, (FBPM) as a fish meal (FM) replacer in juvenile Amur catfish, Saurus asotus. A total number of 225 fish averaging 5.7 +/- 0.1 g (mean +/- standard deviation) were fed one of the five experimental diets formulated to replace FM with FBPM at 0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30% (FBPM0, FBPM5, FBPM10, FBPM20, and FBPM30, respectively). At the end of eight weeks of the experiment, average weight gain (WG) of fish fed FBPM0 or FBPM5 were significantly higher than those of fish fed FBPM20 or FBPM30 diets (p<0.05). However, there was no significant differences in WG among the fish fed FBPM0, FBPM5 or FBPM10, and between fish fed FBPM10 or FBPM20, and also between those fed FBPM20 or FBPM30 diets. Lysozyme activity of fish fed FBPM0 or FBPM5 were significantly higher than those of fish fed FBPM10, FBPM20 or FBPM30 diets (p<0.05). The chemiluminescent response of fish fed FBPM5 was significantly higher than those of fish fed FBPM0, FBPM20 or FBPM30 diets (p<0.05). Broken line regression analysis of WG suggested that the maximal dietary inclusion level for FBPM as a FM replacer could be 6.3% without any adverse effects on whole body composition and on serological characteristics. Therefore, these results may indicate that the maximal dietary inclusion level of FBPM as a FM replacer could be 6.3% in juvenile Amur catfish.