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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Aquac.
Sec. Production Biology
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/faquc.2024.1476881
This article is part of the Research Topic Food Production Potential in the Changing Ocean View all 8 articles

Impact of feed availability on growth performance and N-metabolites of cobia (Rachycentron canadum) at elevated temperature

Provisionally accepted
Minh-Hoang Le Minh-Hoang Le 1,2Marit Espe Marit Espe 3Luís E.C. Conceição Luís E.C. Conceição 4Minh Van Nguyen Minh Van Nguyen 1Manuel Yúfera Manuel Yúfera 5Sofia Engrola Sofia Engrola 6Ann-Elise Jordal Ann-Elise Jordal 2Hoang Quoc Pham Hoang Quoc Pham 1Ivar Rønnestad Ivar Rønnestad 2*
  • 1 Nha Trang University, Nha Trang, South Central Coast, Vietnam
  • 2 University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
  • 3 Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Bergen, Hordaland, Norway
  • 4 Sparos (Portugal), Olhão, Portugal
  • 5 Institute of Marine Sciences of Andalusia, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Puerto Real, Spain
  • 6 Center of Marine Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study explored the effects of increased water temperatures and limited feeding on the growth, feed utilization, and nutrient retention in juvenile cobia (Rachycentron canadum). Juvenile cobia, approximately 5.0 g in body weight, were distributed across two temperature conditions: 34ºC, to mimic a global warming scenario, and 30ºC, the current local summer average, as controls. The setup included eighteen 200-liter tanks, with 20 fish per tank. Within each temperature regime, triplicate tanks received one of three feeding levels (55%, 75%, and 95% of satiation as determined at 30ºC) over a six-week period. The findings indicated that cobia exhibited the poorest growth performance at the elevated temperature (34ºC) and the lowest feeding level (55%). These conditions also correlated with the lowest protein efficiency ratio and feed intake. The feed conversion ratio worsened with increased temperature and feeding levels, while protein production values decreased at higher temperatures. A lower feeding level caused a lower total lipid retention but led to increased retention of whole body essential amino acids. After six weeks, a 24-hour post-prandial analysis showed selective retention of some amino acids in muscle and plasma, but significantly higher retention in the liver at the higher temperature. Only a few amino acids' retention was influenced by feeding level. These results suggest that temperature and feeding levels alter the prioritization of amino acid metabolism and retention, as well as the utilization of energy and substrates across different organs of the cobia.

    Keywords: Rachycentron canadum, Elevated temperature, Feeding levels, growth performance, Amino Acids, N-retention

    Received: 06 Aug 2024; Accepted: 28 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Le, Espe, Conceição, Nguyen, Yúfera, Engrola, Jordal, Pham and Rønnestad. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ivar Rønnestad, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

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