Effects of microencapsulated sodium butyrate supplementation on growth performance, intestinal development and antioxidative capacity of juvenile black sea bream ( <i>Acanthopagrus schlegelii</i> )
Sami Ullah, Gangwei Zhang, Jinzhi Zhang, Shengli Tong, Lei Wang, Hameeda Kalhoro, Ying Chen, Josie Ancella Volatiana, Gladstone Sagada, Lu Zheng, Qingjun Shao
Abstract
Eight weeks of feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of microencapsulated sodium butyrate (MSB) on juvenile black sea bream (Acanthopagrus schlegelii). A basal diet was designed with 24% fish meal, and the other four diets were formulated with dietary supplementation of graded levels of MSB at 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.20% and 0.40%, respectively. Triplicate tanks were randomly assigned to each diet with 20 fish having an initial weight of 9.98 ± 0.13 g. The weight gain rate, specific growth rate and feed efficiency ratio of fish fed the MSB 0.2% diet were significantly (p < .05) higher compared to the control group. Proximate compositions of the whole body and dorsal muscle were non-significantly different among the groups (p > .05). The apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter, crude protein, and crude lipid were significantly higher in the MSB-supplemented treatments (p < .05). The contents of total protein, cholesterol and albumin in serum were non-significantly different in all groups (p > .05). The superoxide dismutase activity, immunoglobulin M content and total antioxidant capacity were significantly (p < .05) higher in the group fed with MSB-supplemented diets compared with the control group. The villus height and the number of goblet cells per villus in the fore intestine were significantly (p < .05) higher in the group fed with MSB-supplemented diets. From the present study, we concluded that MSB-supplemented diet enhances fish growth and its intestinal health.