Dietary non-protein energy sources: growth, digestive enzyme activities and nutrient utilization by the catfish jundia, Rhamdia quelen

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different dietary carbohydrate to lipid (CHO:L) ratios on growth, digestive enzyme activities and nutrient utilization by jundia Rhamdia quelen (Quoy & Gaimard) an omnivorous catfish native to Latin America. Groups of 40 fingerlings were stocked in 24 tanks and fed eight isonitrogenous (41% crude protein) and isoenergetic (13.5 kJ g-1) casein-based diets for 75 days. Diets had eight CHO:L ratios: 0.3:1, 1.0:1, 2.0:1, 3.4:1, 4.6:1, 5.3:1, 5.6:1 and 6.5:1, and were fed twice a day to apparent satiation. Increasing CHO:L ratio did not significantly affect growth performance. However, the highest apparent net protein utilization was observed in fish fed the 5.3:1 CHO:L diet. No differences were detected among fish on apparent net energy utilization. Whole body fat deposition decreased as dietary CHOL:L ratio increased (P < 0.01). The highest fat deposition was observed in fish fed the lowest CHO:L ratio diet. Liver glycogen showed a quadratic response to the increase on dietary carbohydrate concentration, which may suggest that dietary CHO:L ratios above 3.4 can cause metabolic burden for jundia. Therefore, despite jundia omnivorous feeding habit, our findings indicate that dietary dextrin concentration above 15.70% (CHO:L=5.3) are not well utilized by jundia.