Optimum arginine requirement of juvenile black sea bream, Sparus macrocephalus

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to determine the dietary arginine requirement of juvenile black sea bream Sparus macrocephalus in 18 350 L indoors flow-through circular fibreglass tanks. Six isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated to contain graded levels of l-arginine (1.85%, 2.23%, 2.51%, 2.86%, 3.20% and 3.46% dry diet) from dietary ingredients and crystalline arginine. Each diet was randomly assigned to triplicate groups of 25 juvenile fish (10.51 +/- 0.15 g) twice daily (08:00 and 16:00 hours) to apparent satiation. Results showed that the specific growth rate (SGR) increased with increasing dietary arginine levels up to 2.51% and remained nearly the same thereafter. Feed efficiency ratio, protein efficiency ratio (PER) and protein productive value all showed an increasing tendency and then levelled off. Apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter, crude protein and gross energy significantly improved up to 2.86% arginine diet and decreased at different extents thereafter. Fish fed 1.85% arginine diet had significantly lower protein content in the whole body and dorsal muscle than those fed diets supplemented with or > 2.86% of arginine. Lipid content decreased and lower value occurred at 3.46% of dietary arginine. The dietary essential amino acid composition in the whole body of the black sea bream was significantly influenced by dietary arginine. Arginine retention increased with an increasing dietary arginine level from 1.85% to 3.20%, then declined slightly at 3.46% arginine diet. Serum biochemical parameters were significantly affected by the dietary arginine level except for the cholesterol content. Broken-line regression based on SGR and second-order polynomial regression based on PER indicated that the optimum dietary arginine requirements for juvenile black sea bream were 2.79% and 3.09% diet, corresponding to 7.74% and 8.13% of the dietary protein respectively.