Volume 87, Issue 5, May (2002), pp. 459-468 © The Author 2002
doi:10.1079/BJN2002564

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Protein and arginine requirements for maintenance and nitrogen gain in four teleosts

V. Fournier¹, M. F. Gouillou-Coustans², R. Métailler², C. Vachot¹, M. J. Guedes³, F. Tulli⁴, A. Oliva-Teles³, E. Tibaldi^4,* and S. J. Kaushik^1,*
1Laboratoire de Nutrition des Poissons, Unité mixte INRA-IFREMER, Unité d’Hydrobiologie, B.P. 3, 64310 St Pée sur Nivelle, France
²Laboratoire de Nutrition des Poissons, Unité mixte INRA-IFREMER, Centre de Brest, B.P. 70. 29280 Plouzané, France
³Faculdade de Ciências do Porto, CIIMAR, Pr. Gomes Teixeira, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
⁴Dipartimento di Scienze della Produzione Animale, via S. Mauro 2, 33010 Pagnacco (UD), Italy

 (Received 20 February 2001–Revised 7 January 2002–Accepted 14 January 2002)

Besides being an indispensable amino acid for protein synthesis, arginine (Arg) is also involved in a number of other physiological functions. Available data on the quantitative requirement for Arg in different teleosts appear to show much variability. So far, there are very limited data on the maintenance requirements of indispensable amino acids (IAA) in fish. In the present study, we compared N and Arg requirements for maintenance and growth of four finfish species: rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), turbot (Psetta maxima), gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) and European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax). Groups of fish having an initial body weight close to 5–7 g were fed semi-purified diets containing graded levels of N (0 to 8 % DM) and Arg (0 to 3 % DM) over 4 to 6 weeks. For each species, N and Arg requirements for maintenance and for growth were calculated regressing daily N gain against daily N or Arg intakes. N requirement for maintenance was estimated to be 37·8, 127·3, 84·7 and 45·1 mg/kg metabolic body weight per d and 2·3, 2·2, 2·6 and 2·5 g for 1 g N accretion, in rainbow trout, turbot, gilthead seabream and European seabass respectively. The four species studied appear to have very low or no dietary Arg requirements for maintenance. Arg requirement for g N accretion was calculated to be 0·86 g in rainbow trout and between 1·04–1·11 g in the three marine species. Turbot required more N for maintenance than the other three species, possibly explaining its reputedly high overall dietary protein requirement. Data suggest a small but sufficient endogenous Arg synthesis to maintain whole body N balance and differences between freshwater and marine species as regards Arg requirement. It is worth verifying this tendency with other IAA.

Keywords:
Requirement: Maintenance: Growth: Nitrogen: Arginine: Teleosts