Identification of Feeding Stimulants for Juvenile Pacific Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus orientalis in Muscle Extract of Horse Mackerel, Trachurus japonicus

For establishing a basal diet for the Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis (PBT), feeding stimulants were initially identified by omission test using the synthetic extract of horse mackerel, Trachurus japonicus. Four feeding trials were conducted using juvenile PBT weighing (trial 1, 2 and 3) and (trial 4), which were originated from an artificial seedling production. The fish fed the casein diet with each test solution were added at the ratio of 100 g casein diet to 100 g jack mackerel muscle. A complete synthetic extract of jack mackerel containing all 3 fractions, amino acid, nucleotide and organic nitrogenous base, exhibited a comparable feeding stimulant activity compared to that of natural extract. The omission of nucleotide or amino acid fraction showed lower feeding activity, but the omission of other nitrogenous fraction maintained a similar feeding stimulant activity compared to that of the synthetic extract (trial 1). Inosine-5' monophosphate (IMP) was identified as a major constituent for maintaining feeding activity. The mixture of L-alanine, L-glutamic acid, L-histidine, L-lysine, taurine and IMP induced a similar feeding activity compared to that of the synthetic extract (trial 2 and 3). In trial 4, the highest feeding activity was finally obtained in the mixture of L-histidine, L-glutamine and IMP, followed by the synthetic extract, the mixture of L-lysine, L-alanine and IMP, IMP and the mixture of L-histidine, L-glutamic acid, L-lysine and L-alanine. These results revealed that the mixture of L-histidine, L-glutamic acid and IMP for the proper feeding stimulant of PBT in this study.