Spray-Dried Blood Cells as a Partial Replacement for Fishmeal in Diets for Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss

Abstract.— The objective of this study was to evaluate growth of juvenile rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (81.4 mm initial length and 6.4 g initial weight) fed a diet containing 47.5% herring meal (FM diet) and a test diet containing 34.5% herring meal and 8.75% spray-dried animal blood cells (SBC diet). Both diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous (48.5 and 48.0% protein) and isocaloric (3,977 and 3,927 kcal DElkg). At the end of the 12-wk feeding trial, differences in growth rate and feed conversion ratios were not statistically significant between the two dietary treatments. Apparent crude protein digestibility was 89.7% for the SBC diet and 88.1% for the FM diet. Apparent net protein utilization and iron retention values were not different, but phosphorus retention was higher for fish fed the SBC diet. Whole body iron content of the fish decreased in both groups from 23.3 mg/ kg in an initial sample to 16.5 mg/kg in fish fed the FM diet and 18.4 mg/kg in fish fed the SBC diet at the end of 12 wk. The diet containing 8.75% SBC replaced 27.4% of the crude protein supplied by herring meal, and it had 22.7% less total phosphorus (P) than the fishmeal diet. The cost of gain for the FM diet was $0.508/kg gain compared to $0.512/kg gain for the SBC diet.