The Effect of First Feeding Exposure of Larval Largemouth Bass to a Formulated Soybean Meal-Based or Soy Saponin-Supplemented Diet on Fish Growth Performance and Gut Microbiome
Karolina Kwasek, Michal Wojno, Samuel Patula, Frank Oliaro, Chrissy Cabay, Lee J. Pinnell
Abstract
Abstract The negative effects of dietary soybean meal (SBM) can be counteracted with the use of nutritional programming (NP). Nutritional programming is an early feeding event during larval or juvenile stages that can alter physiological responses of the fish later in their life. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of introducing diets containing SBM or soy saponin to larval Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides on growth performance and gut microbiome composition of the fish in their pre-adult stage.The study found that NP introduced with a formulated SBM diet or dietary saponin for 21 d during the larval stages did not improve SBM utilization and growth performance in the pre-adult age, which likely resulted from poor utilization of dry feeds in Largemouth Bass during first feeding. Our study also found that NP with an SBM diet or dietary saponin did not have any significant effects on the Largemouth Bass gut microbiome, and there did not seem to be any gut microbiome modification associated with NP. However, age-related changes in the gut microbiome were documented.