Replacing fishmeal with soybean meal affects survival, antioxidant capacity, intestinal microbiota, and mRNA expression of TOR and S6K1 in Macrobrachium rosenbergii

Using alternative plant-derived dietary protein to replace fishmeal, combined with practical evaluation indexes, is a recent focus for aquaculture practices. An 8-week feeding experiment with giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii post-larvae was conducted to determine the effects of replacing fishmeal (FM) with soybean meal in the feed, in terms of growth performance, antioxidant capacity, intestinal microbiota, and mRNA expression of target of rapamycin (TOR) and ribosomal protein S6 kinase B1 (S6K1). Four isonitrogenous diets with isocaloric value were prepared to contain 100%, 75%, 50%, or 25% FM as the protein source (dietary treatments FM100, FM75, FM50, and FM25, respectively). Each diet was fed to post-larval prawns (mean weight 0.045 +/- 0.002 g) twice a day in four replicates. No significant difference in weight gain was observed among all groups, but the survival rate of prawns fed the FM50 and FM25 diets was significantly lower than that of prawns fed the FM diet. The mRNA expression of both TOR and S6K1 were the lowest in hepatopancreas of prawns fed the FM25 diet. Superoxide dismutase activity of prawns fed the FM25 diet was significantly lower than that of prawns fed FM50. In contrast, the malondialdehyde content was significantly higher in prawns fed FM25 as compared with those fed FM75. The proportion of fishmeal in the diet did not affect the composition of core (phylum-level) intestinal microbiota, but greater fishmeal replacement with soybean meal had a potential risk to increase the relative abundance of opportunistic pathogens in the gut when considered at the genus level. These results suggest that fishmeal replacement with soybean meal should not exceed 50% in a diet for post-larval M rosenbergii.

Automated summary

The study found that replacing fishmeal with soybean meal can affect the growth performance, antioxidant capacity, intestinal microbiota, and mRNA expression of mTOR and S6K1 in post-larval prawns. However, caution must be taken as fishmeal replacement with soybean meal should not exceed 50% in the diet.