Apparent Digestibility Coefficients of Seven Animal Protein Ingredients for Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) Post-Smolts

Hairui Yu; Xinyue Zhang; Leyong Yu; Jiayi Zhang; Rongyu Yan; Lingyao Li; Govindhrajan Sattanathan; Abdur Rahman

doi:10.1155/anu/6645799

Apparent Digestibility Coefficients of Seven Animal Protein Ingredients for Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) Post-Smolts

Aquac Nutr. 2025 Nov 25:2025:6645799. doi: 10.1155/anu/6645799. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Hairui Yu¹, Xinyue Zhang¹, Leyong Yu², Jiayi Zhang^{1

3}, Rongyu Yan¹, Lingyao Li^{1

4}, Govindhrajan Sattanathan^{1

5}, Abdur Rahman^{1

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Universities of Shandong (Weifang University), Weifang Key Laboratory of Coho Salmon Culturing Facility Engineering, Institute of Modern Facility Fisheries, College of Biology and Oceanography, Weifang University, Weifang 261061, China.
² College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
³ Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden.
⁴ Shandong Collaborative Innovation Center of Coho Salmon Health Culture Engineering Technology, Shandong Conqueren Marine Technology Co. Ltd., Weifang 261108, China.
⁵ Weifang Key Laboratory of Salmon and Trout Health Culture, Conqueren Leading Fresh Science and Technology Inc. Ltd., Weifang 261205, China.
⁶ Department of Animal Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54000, Pakistan.

Abstract

The present study determined the apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of dry matter, nutrients, and energy in selected seven animal protein ingredients, including Peruvian fish meal (PFM), native fish meal (NFM), Antarctic krill meal (AKM), native shrimp meal (NSM), poultry by-product meal (PBPM), meat and bone meal (MBM), and hydrolyzed feather meal (HFM) for coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) post-smolts (initial body weight: 212.73 ± 5.15 g). Using yttrium oxide (Y₂O₃, 0.5 g/kg) as an inert marker, a reference diet was formulated to contain ~440 g/kg of crude protein and 200 g/kg of crude lipid, whereas the test diets were composed of the reference diet and one of the test ingredients at a ratio of 70:30. The dry matter ADCs of the test animal protein ingredients ranged from 65.14% to 83.77%. The ADC of energy followed a similar trend to that of dry matter (69.03%-87.52%). The crude protein and lipid in all the test ingredients were well digested by the post-smolts with ADCs ranging from 74.12% to 91.67% and 75.44% to 92.38%, respectively. The MBM and HFM had significantly (p < 0.05) lower amino acid ADCs than other animal protein ingredients, resulting in lower levels of protein digestion in these two terrestrial animal ingredients. The ADCs of phosphorus varied greatly among the animal protein ingredients, with the highest in PBPM (70.52%) and the significantly (p < 0.05) lowest in MBM (37.31%). These ADCs data suggest that PFM, NFM, AKM, NSM, and PBPM can be prioritized as high-quality protein sources and provide more accurate information for the nutrient and energy utilization of coho salmon.

Keywords: Oncorhynchus kisutch; animal protein ingredients; digestibility; energy; nutrients.