Substitution of fish meal by sesame oil cake (Sesamum indicum L.) in the diet of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss W.)

The present study evaluated the nutritional value of sesame oil cake (SOC) in rainbow trout fry (initial body weight of 1.42 g) in a growth trial performed for 45 feeding days at 15 ± 1 °C. A series of five isonitrogenous (380 g digestible protein kg^?1 dry matter (DM)) and isoenergetic (18.1 MJ digestible energy kg^?1 DM) diets were formulated in which the digestible SOC protein progressively replaced 0%, 13%, 26%, 39% and 52% of the digestible protein of a high quality fish meal (D0‐D52). Growth rate of fry significantly improved in fish fed SOC diets compared to the fishmeal control diet (D0) whatever the SOC inclusion level. This positive effect on growth was mainly related to a marked improvement of voluntary feed intake. The decrease of feed efficiency observed with increasing SOC was entirely explained by the reduction of DM and energy digestibilities with SOC incorporation. Nitrogen retention efficiency (nitrogen gain/nitrogen intake) was high (40–41%) and significantly reduced only in fish fed D52 (37%). Our results suggest that SOC can be a suitable protein source for a carnivorous fish and replace at least half of the fishmeal protein (without amino acid supplementation) without growth reduction in rainbow trout fry.