The growth performance of Jade Tiger cultured abalone fed diets supplemented with fish oil and vegetable oils

Background The effects of fish oil ( FO ) supplementation and the dietary replacement of FO with flaxseed oil ( FlaxO ) and canola oil ( CO ) on the growth of cultured abalone was investigated. The study involved three growth experiments: ( E1 ) diets containing 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5% of FO , respectively; ( E2 ) diets in which FO was serially replaced by 25, 50, 75 and 100% FlaxO , respectively; and ( E3 ) diets in which FO was serially replaced by 25, 50, 75 and 100% CO , respectively.Results In Experiment 1, abalone fed a diet supplemented with 1.5% FO showed a significantly higher (121.2 ± 1.1 mg day −1 ) daily growth rate of weight ( DGR w ) compared to control (70.1 ± 1.71 mg day −1 ). In Experiment 2, abalone fed 1.5% FO diet and diets containing 25–75% FlaxO showed no significant differences in DGR w . The diet containing 100% FlaxO showed significantly lower (63.3 ± 6.7 mg day −1 ) DGR w . In Experiment 3, abalone fed diets containing 25% and 50% CO showed similar DGR w as those fed a 1.5% FO diet. The diet containing 75% and 100% CO showed significantly lower (63.7 ± 5.0 to 95.4 ± 5.1 mg day −1 ) DGR w .Conclusion Supplementation with 1.5% of dietary FO can improve growth performance in cultured abalone. It is feasible to replace 75% of dietary FO with FlaxO and 50% of dietary FO with CO , without negative effect on growth performance.