Trace element status of juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. fed a fish-meal based diet with or without supplementation of zinc, iron, manganese and copper from first feeding

Growth, haemoglobin and element status were compared in Atlantic salmon fed a practical fish-meal based diet, unsupplemented or supplemented with a mixture of the elements zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and copper (Cu) from first feeding (weight 0.20 g). The diets were fed to triplicate groups of fish from weeks 1–20 and to duplicates from weeks 21–34. The basal diet (Diet 1) was not supplemented and contained 67 mg Zn, 106 mg Fe, 4.7 mg Mn and 3.7 mg Cu kg^–1. Diet 2 was supplemented with 68 mg Zn, 34 mg Fe, 13 mg Mn and 3.5 mg Cu kg^–1. Iron was not added to Diet 3.
Mean weight and mortality did not differ among the groups at any sampling point. Whole-body Zn and Mn responded to dietary concentration at all sampling points. Plasma and vertebrae Zn concentrations responded significantly to dietary Zn concentration. There were no effects with Fe. The Fe status of the fish, assessed by whole-body and liver Fe concentrations, was low in all groups. No effect of supplementation was found for Cu and no accurate judgement either of status or requirement could be made from the present results.
It is concluded that supplementing fish-meal based start feeds for Atlantic salmon with Zn, Mn and Fe is appropriate, while further studies are needed for the evaluation of Cu supplementation. The supplementation levels used in the present experiment appeared to meet the requirements for Zn and Mn, while the supplemented level of Fe appeared to be too low. Deleting Fe from the element mixture did not significantly affect Fe status or that of Zn, Mn and Cu.
There was an accumulation of Zn and Fe with growth. Cu remained constant and there was a trend towards reduced Mn in the fish given the unsupplemented diet.