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Effects of starving and re-feeding strategies on the growth performance and physiological characteristics of the juvenile tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis)

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Abstract

Starving and re-feeding trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of starvation duration and recovery times on the growth performance and physiological characteristics of juvenile tongue sole Cynoglossus semilaevis, which included growth, body composition, intestinal morphology and digestive enzymes activities. The fish starved for one (D1), two (D2) and four (D4) days, respectively, were recovered for three (R3, R6, R12), seven (R7, R14, R28) and eleven (R11, R22, R44) folds of starvation days while the control fish were fed constantly. The experiment was conducted for 96 days. The fish individuals in D1R11, D2R14 and D2R22 caught up in weight with the control, indicating that complete compensatory growth existed in these fish individuals. The highest body weight gain and total specific growth rates were observed in D2R22. Food intake increased significantly in most treatments in comparison with that of the control except for D1R7 and D2R22 (P < 0.05). Food conversion efficiency and apparent digest coefficient in D2R22 were significantly promoted, being higher than that of the control (P < 0.05). The activities of trypsin and lipase were found to be closely related to the growth performance. The activities of liver and hindgut trypsin, also midgut and hindgut lipase in D2R22 were significantly higher than those of the control (P < 0.05). The fold height (HF) of foregut and midgut increased significantly in D2R22, and HF decreased significantly in D1R3, D2R6 and D4R12 (P < 0.05). On our findings, we may conclude that the optimum starving and re-feeding strategy is starving for 2 days and re-feeding for 22 days. And in this starving and re-feeding strategy, the compensatory growth could be mostly attributed to the promotion of food conversion efficiency and digestibility coefficiency.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Great Project of Scientific and Technical Supporting Programs (No. 2011BAD13B03), the program for Excellent Youth Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. JQ201009), and the Major Project for Agricultural Application Technology Innovation of Shandong Province (No. 2013-136).

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  1. Key Laboratory of Mariculture of Ministry of Education, College of Fisheries, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, P. R. China

    Ziheng Fang, Xiangli Tian & Shuanglin Dong

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  1. Ziheng Fang
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  2. Xiangli Tian
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  3. Shuanglin Dong
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Correspondence to Xiangli Tian.

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Fang, Z., Tian, X. & Dong, S. Effects of starving and re-feeding strategies on the growth performance and physiological characteristics of the juvenile tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis). J. Ocean Univ. China 16, 517–524 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-017-3198-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-017-3198-7

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