Inclusion of an extruded dehulled pea seed meal in diets for juvenile European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

A feeding trial and subsequent digestibility trial were performed on juvenile European sea bass. The diet formulation allowed for the incorporation of up to 30% of a highly processed commercial pea seed meal as a replacement for both fish meal and the non-protein energy component of the diet (mainly starch). After 11 weeks, it was observed that a positive but non-significant trend existed for both growth and feed utilization with increasing incorporation of pea seed meal in the diets. There were, however, other nutritional parameters such as protein efficiency ratio (PER) and nitrogen deposition that increased according to graded levels of pea seed meal indicating that a high inclusion of this ingredient was beneficial to protein assimilation. Digestibility coefficients for protein, lipid and carbohydrates were not appreciably affected by the inclusion of this ingredient which was also reflected with respect to the overall carcass composition of sea bass at the end of the study. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.