Partial or total replacement of fish meal by corn gluten meal in diet for turbot (Psetta maxima)

The effect of corn gluten meal (CGM) as a partial or total replacement of fish meal was studied in turbot (Psetta maxima). Five experimental diets containing a gradient of CGM were fed to triplicate groups of turbot (initial body weight of 65 g) over 9 weeks at 17 degrees C. Turbot fed a diet containing 20% of CGM had comparable growth performances as these fed a fishmeal based diet. Total replacement of fish meal adversely affected growth. Digestibility of nutrients and energy of the diets decreased with the increase in levels of dietary corn gluten meal. Supplementation of arginine and lysine in diets containing CGM induced an improvement of the availability of these two amino acids. The incorporation of CGM in diets significantly affected plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations while no effect was observed on plasma levels of thyroid hormones. These results suggest that protein from CGM can replace one third of fish meal protein in the diets for turbot. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.