Dietary Lysine Requirement of Juvenile Red Drum Sciaenops ocellatus

AbstractThe dietary lysine requirement of juvenile red drum Sciaenops ocellatus was reevaluated in two separate experiments. In the first experiment, lyophilized red drum muscle was combined with an Lform crystalline amino acid premix to yield diets containing approximately 35% protein on a drymatter basis. Gradations (0.25%) of Llysine HCl were added to the basal diet containing approximately 1.0% lysine. Each diet was fed to triplicate groups of juvenile red drum initially weighing 67 g for 8 weeks. Based on growth and feed efficiency data, the lysine requirement (SE) was determined to be 1.55% (0.079%) of dry diet or 4.430% of dietary protein. In a second experiment, the lysine requirement of red drum was investigated with diets containing 35% intact protein from zein and red drum muscle. Each of the zeinbased diets containing incremental levels of lysine was fed to triplicate groups of juvenile red drum initially weighing 12 g for 8 weeks. A crystalline amino acid test diet serving as a control in this experiment significantly outperformed the zeinbased diets, and palatability of those diets was questionable due to an obvious change in feeding behavior of the fish. Due to the inferior performance of the fish fed the zeinbased diets, the authors were not successful in determining a requirement with these diets. Thus, a lysine requirement of 1.55% of dry diet (4.43% of dietary protein) as determined in the first experiment is recommended for juvenile red drum.

Dietary Lysine Requirement of Juvenile Red Drum Sciaenops ocellatus Academic Article