Effects of Dietary Inclusion of Distillers Dried Grain as a Partial Replacement for Fish Meal on Growth Performance of Juvenile Rockfish Sebastes schlegeli

A feeding experiment was conducted to determine the use of distillers dried grain (DDG) as a partial replacement for fish meal in the diet for juvenile rockfish, Sebastes schlegeli. Four iso-nitrogenous (50% crude protein) and iso-caloric (4.3 kcal/g) diets (designated as DDG0, DDG7, DDG14, and DDG21) were formulated to contain 0, 7, 14, and 21% DDG. Triplicate groups of juvenile rockfish (initial body weight, $10.2{\pm}0.2g$) were fed one of the experimental diets to visual satiety twice a day (09:00 and 17:00) for 8 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, survival of rockfish was above 97% and not affected by dietary DDG levels (P>0.05). Weight gain, feed efficiency and daily feed intake of juvenile rockfish were significantly decreased with increase of dietary DDG levels (P<0.05). Condition factor, hepatosomatic index and visceralsomatic index of juvenile rockfish were not significantly affected by dietary DDG levels (P>0.05). No significant differences were observed in the contents of moisture, crude protein, crude lipid and ash of the whole body and dorsal muscle in juvenile rockfish fed the experimental diets (P>0.05). Therefore dietary inclusion of DDG as a replacement for fish meal could depress the growth of juvenile rockfish.