Incorporation of plant protein feedstuffs into fish meal diets for rainbow trout increases phosphorus availability

Individual plant protein feedstuffs were incorporated into a diet containing fish meal and fed to rainbow trout to determine apparent and true phosphorus availability (APA and TPA, respectively). The plant protein feedstuffs evaluated were soybean, canola and peanut meals; each was incorporated at 200 g kg^–1 of dry matter. The average initial weight of fish was 68 g and the water temperature was maintained at 15°C. Concentrations of macronutrients were constant in diets. Incorporation of plant protein feedstuffs significantly increased APA and TPA values. The APA values were 19.5% for fish meal and 39.5%, 40.2%, and 38.5% for the diets containing soybean meal, canola meal, and peanut meal, respectively. Similarly, the TPA values for the combination of fish meal and plant protein feedstuff were 43.4%, 42.1% and 40.6% for diets containing soybean, canola and peanut meals, respectively, which were significantly higher than values for fish meal (21.5%). Calculation of APA and TPA values for individual feedstuffs resulted in values for the plant protein ingredients of over 100%. We speculate that the increased APA and TPA values were the result of decreasing total dietary phosphorus concentrations or dilution of the calcium concentrations from bone in fish meal.