Zinc supplementation of practical channel catfish diets
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abstract
A 10-week feeding trial was conducted with fingerling channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus to determine the supplemental zinc level needed in a practical catfish diet. As phytic acid has been demonstrated to reduce zinc bioavailability, diets in this study were formulated to contain a relatively high level of phytic acid as compared to most commercial catfish diets. Incremental levels of zinc (as ZnO) were added to a soybean meal-based diet which contained 54 mg Zn/kg dry diet and 1.1% phytic acid. Catfish growth and feed efficiency were not improved with zinc supplementation. Serum zinc concentration did not increase significantly above a supplemental zinc level of 100 mg Zn/kg diet; whereas, bone zinc concentration plateaued at the 150 mg/kg supplemental zinc level and above. Based on these data a supplemental zinc level of 150 mg Zn/kg diet is recommended for practical catfish feeds to provide enough available zinc to the channel catfish. 1984.