A study on dietary l-lysine requirement of juvenile yellow catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to determine lysine requirement of juvenile yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco) by feeding formulated diets containing crystalline l-lysine. Six isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets (405 g kg-1 protein, 18 kJ g-1 gloss energy) containing fish meal together with soybean protein concentrate as protein sources and fish oil together with soybean oil as lipid sources were formulated. Crystalline l-lysine was added into the six diets to acquire lysine concentrations of 17.3, 21.8, 26.0, 31.3, 35.5 and 41.9 g kg-1 dry diets, respectively. Mixture of crystalline amino acid was supplemented to simulate the amino acid profile in muscle of yellow catfish. The results indicated that final body weight (FBW), weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed efficiency (FE) and protein efficiency (PE) increased with the increase in dietary lysine level from 17.3 to 31.3 g kg-1 of diet and then decreased as the dietary lysine levels further increased. No significant difference in survival rate was found among all the dietary treatments. One-slope, quadratic broken-line analysis on the basis of SGR showed that the dietary l-lysine requirement of juvenile yellow catfish was 33.1 g kg-1 of dry diet (83.2 g kg-1 of dietary protein).