Dietary lipid requirement on non-specific immune responses in juvenile grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)

This study aimed to evaluate the dietary lipid requirement and its effects on liver oxidative status and non-specific immune responses of juvenile grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Purified diets with five dietary lipid levels (0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10%, fish oil/corn oil = 1:1) were each fed to triplicate groups of grass carp (mean initial weight: 6.57 ± 0.01 g) in a recirculating rearing system maintained at 27.5 ± 0.5 °C for 10 weeks. Percent weight gain was highest (P < 0.05) with 5% lipid and lowest in fish fed the lipid free control diet. Feed efficiency (FE) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) in fish followed the same pattern of percent weight gain. Fish fed with lipid containing diets had better non-specific immune response indexes (e.g. phagocytic activity, plasma peroxidase and lysozyme activity) and low-level of liver oxidation status than fish fed with the control diet. But excess dietary lipid supplement would bring over metabolic burden to liver. After the feeding trial, fish were challenged by Aeromonas hydrophila. Fish fed control diet obtained significantly (P < 0.05) lower survival rate. The survival rate was highest with 7.5% lipid. The results of this study indicated that proper dietary lipid supplementation enhanced the immune response of grass carp and improved the survival rate in the bacterial challenge, but excess dietary lipid may elevate liver oxidation rates of grass carp. Analysis by second-order regression of percent weight gain indicated that the optimal dietary lipid level in juvenile grass carp (6.6-35.5 g) is about 6.5%.