Soybean meal can partially replace enzyme-treated fish meal in the diet of juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis

This study was carried out to investigate whether expensive enzyme-treated fish meal (EFM) can be partially replaced by soybean meal (SM) or enzyme-treated SM (ESM) without compromising the growth of captive-raised Pacific bluefin tuna (PBT) juveniles. Five fish diets were tested: EFM (control) and EFM in which 10 or 20% of the EFM was replaced with either ESM or SM (ESM10, ESM20, SM10 and SM20, respectively). The respective diets were provided to 28-day-old PBT juveniles (mean body weight approx. 0.38 g) stocked randomly in 15-m3 tanks (276 juveniles per tank; two tanks per treatment) for 12 days. The final mean body weight of PBT juveniles on diets EFM, SM10, and SM20 was significantly higher than that of juveniles on diet ESM20. Although daily feeding rate was significantly higher in the ESM and SM groups, feed efficiency (FE) was significantly higher in the EFM group; there was no significant difference between juveniles fed diets EFM and SM10. Protein and phosphorus retention efficiency were significantly lower in the ESM20, and ESM20 and EFM groups, respectively. Phosphorus discharge was significantly lower in the SM groups. The results demonstrate that 10% SM (11% EFM replacement) can be included in EFM without compromising the growth performance of PBT juveniles.