Apparent digestibility coefficients of selected feed ingredients for Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis

Apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), crude fat, energy and amino acids in Peruvian fish meal (FM), Chinese crustacean meal (CM), meat meal (MM), soybean meal (SBM), rapeseed meal (RM) and rice bran (RB) were determined for Chinese mitten crab (50.0 +/- 7.5 g, mean +/- S.D.), using a reference diet with chromic oxide indicator and test diets that contained 70% reference diet and 30% feed ingredient. ADCs of DM were highest in FM (90.1%) and lowest in RB (74.9%) (P<0.05). For crude protein. ADCs exceeding 90% were recorded for FM and MM. Protein digestibility coefficient of RB was the lowest among the treatments (P<0.05). The highest and lowest crude fat digestibilities were observed in FM and MM, respectively (P<0.05). Differences in energy digestibility followed differences in DM and crude protein digestibilities. The highest energy digestibility coefficient was observed in FM, followed by CM, and the lowest in RB (P<0.05). In general, amino acid availability reflected crude protein digestibility; however, for some ingredients, there were major differences in availability of different amino acids. For the animal meals, the availability of amino acids in FM and CM was generally higher than that in MM; however, ADCs of Lys and Cys in MM were slightly higher than those in FM. Among all plant meals, the availability of amino acids in SBM and RM was higher than in RB. The availability of amino acids in RB was the lowest for mitten crab among the ingredients tested. Digestibility information could promote the use of ingredient substitution in least-cost formulated diets for Chinese mitten crab. (C) 2008 Elsevier BY. All rights reserved.