Abstract:
Objective The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effects of inulin on the growth performance, digestive enzyme activity, metabolic function and non-specific immunity of juvenile Siniperca scherzeri.
Methods A total of 360 juvenile S. scherzeri with initial body mass (IBM) of (7.40 ± 0.07) g were selected and randomly divided into 4 groups with 3 replicates per group and 30 fish per replicate. Using crushed expanded feed for mandarin fish as the experimental basal diet, four types of diets were prepared with inulin addition levels of 0% (control group, L1), 0.5% (L2), 1.0% (L3), and 1.5% (L4), respectively. The experiment lasted for 60 days.
Results 1) The optimal growth performance of juvenile S. scherzeri was observed with an inulin addition level of 0.5%. At this level, final body mass (FBM), weight gain rate (WGR), and specific growth rate (SGR) significantly increased (P<0.05), while feed conversion ratio (FCR) significantly decreased (P<0.05). 2) The intestinal digestive enzyme activity of juvenile S. scherzeri was improved at a dietary inulin level of 0.5%. The intestinal amylase (AMS) activity was significantly increased compared with the control group (P<0.05), the intestinal lipase (LPS) and intestinal trypsin (TPS) activities were increased compared with the control group (P>0.05). 3) Adding inulin to feed could promote the serum lipid metabolism in juvenile S. scherzeri. The setum triglyceride (TG) content significantly decreased at a dietary inulin level of 1.5%, the serum cholesterol (CHO) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels at a dietary inulin level of 0.5% were significantly reduced compared with control group, the serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) content at a dietary inulin level of 1.0%−1.5% was significantly increased compared with control group. 4) Juvenile S. scherzeri showed the highest protein metabilism at a dietary inulin level of 0.5%. At this level, The alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities significantly decreased. 5) Adding inulin to feed can promote the non-specific immunity in juvenile S. scherzeri. The serum malondialdehyde (MDA) content of L2, L3 and L4 were significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). The serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and acid phosphatase (ACP) activities significantly increased at a dietary inulin level of 0.5% (P<0.05). At this level, the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) was also higher than that of control group (P>0.05).
Conclusions Under the conditions of this experiment, adding appropriate amounts of inulin to feed can promote the growth, digestion, metabolism and immunity of juvenile Siniperca scherzeri, and 0.5% inulin supplementation has a better effect.