Effects of Dietary Garlic Extract on Growth, Feed Utilization and Whole Body Composition of Juvenile Sterlet Sturgeon (Acipenser ruthenus)

• Published in: Asian-australasian journal of animal sciences 2012-04, Vol.25 (4), p.577-583
• Main Authors: Lee, Dong-Hoon, Ra, Chang-Six, Song, Young-Han, Sung, Kyung-Il, Kim, Jeong-Dae
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Feed Utilization; Food and nutrition; Garlic; Garlic Extract; Growth; Health aspects; Materia medica, Vegetable; Plant extracts; Sturgeons
• ISSN: 1011-2367; 1976-5517
• DOI: 10.5713/ajas.2012.12012

This study was carried out to investigate the supplemental effects of dietary garlic extract (GE) on growth performance of juvenile sterlet sturgeon (Acipenser ruthenus). The first experiment was designed to determine the optimum levels of garlic extract as growth promoter during 10 weeks. Three groups (two replicates/group) of 240 fish with mean body weight of 85 g were fed with diets containing 0 (control), 0.5 and 1.0% of GE. The highest weight gain (%) and feed efficiency (%) were found in fish groups fed with diet containing 0.5% GE. Subsequently, the supplemental effects of dietary GE was studied on growth of juvenile sterlet sturgeon (Acipenser ruthenus) with an average body weight of 59.6 g. Fish cultured in freshwater were randomly allotted to each of 10 tanks (two groups of five replicates, 20 fish/tank) and fed diets with 0.5% GE or without GE (control), respectively, at the level of 2.0% of fish body weight per day for 5 weeks. Weight gain (51.1%), feed efficiency (79.1%), specific growth rate (1.18%) and protein efficiency ratio (1.50) of fish fed 0.5% GE were significantly (p