Utilization of Rice Protein Concentrate in Siberian Sturgeon (Acipenser baerii Brandt) Nutrition

The aim of this research is the substitution of fish meal with rice protein concentrate (RPC) in the nutrition of Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) diet. 240 sturgeons of initial mean body weight of 19.1 +/- 6.7 g were used. 3 isonitrogeonous (CP 42.4%) and isoenergetic (19.9 KJg(-1) DM) diets were formulated with 20% of RPC inclusion (R20), 35% inclusion (R35), 53% inclusion (R53) against a control diet, fish meal based (FM); feeding ratio was 1.5% of BW. All the diets and fish fillets were analyzed to determine the proximate composition. The diet amino acid composition was measured and fillet colour was detected at the end of experimentation. Fish growth showed very good performances of sturgeon fed with high RPC inclusion, but these data were not considered conclusive because of technical problems during the experimentation. However, considering that the highest level of RPC in the sturgeon diets corresponded to an almost complete substitution of fish meal in the fish diet, the result obtained from fish quality analysis showed no adverse effect of experimental diets, with the only limitation of high muscle lipid storage, in fish fed with highest level of RPC inclusion.