Using supplemental amino acids to lower protein levels in Jian carp diets

by Juyun He, Karthik Masagounder and Mingchun Ren

It has been a common practice in the swine and poultry industries to reduce dietary crude protein (CP) levels with the use of supplemental amino acids while following an ideal protein concept (Htoo et al., 2007; Berres et al., 2010; Powell et al., 2011; Wu, 2014).

In fish species such as rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) (Gaylord & Barrows, 2009) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) (Botaro et al., 2007), low-protein diets with limiting essential amino acids (EAA) supplementation did not negatively affect growth performance, while showing environmental benefits (Liu et al. 2009).
 

Using the diets formulated with fishmeal as the main protein source and methionine supplementation showed that dietary protein levels higher than 34.1 percent is not needed for juvenile Jian carp, a variant of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Common carp contributes towards ~50 percent of the total annual production of farmed carp (Ji et al., 2015).

Commercial feed samples (n=39) of juvenile common carp collected in China during 2018-2019 showed high dietary protein levels (~36%). Evonik, in collaboration with Dr Mingchun Ren of the Freshwater Fisheries Research Centre CAFS (FFRC), wanted to investigate the effects of increasing EAA supplementation on the success of sparing intact protein sources and reducing dietary protein levels in juvenile Jian carp, based on growth and nitrogen utilisation.

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The Aquaculturists

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