Partial substitution of fish meal with fermented cottonseed meal in juvenile black sea bream (Acanthopagrus schlegelii) diets

Abstract An 8-week experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of partial replacement of fish meal with fermented cottonseed meal (FCM) on growth performance, digestibility and body composition of black sea bream, Acanthopagrus schlegelii . Fish averaging (± SD) 8.5 ± 0.3 g were fed four isonitrogenous diets containing 0, 80, 160 and 240 g kg − 1 FCM (FCM0, 8, 16 and 24, respectively) to replace fish meal. The results showed that weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio and protein productive value were lower ( P P P P P P P Statement of relevance Recently, finding alternative protein sources to replace fish meal in aquafeed becomes a global research priority. The result provides important information regarding the potential application of fermented cottonseed meal as a valuable alternative protein source for fish culture. Meanwhile, the result also gives useful information for the formulation of diets for the valuable commercial marine fish, black sea bream ( Acanthopagrus schlegelii ).