Evaluate of Wheat Gluten as a Protein Alternative for Fish Meal and Soy Protein Concentrate in Red Spotted Grouper Epinephelus akaara

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of wheat gluten as a substitute for fish meal (FM) and soy protein concentrate (SPC) in the low-fishmeal-based extruded diet in red spotted grouper Epinephelus akaara. Eight isonitrogenous (441–456 g kg−1) and isocaloric (21.5–22.0 MJ kg−1) diets were produced, including the control diet (R0), three diets with 33.3, 66.7, and 100% FM being replaced by a mixture of wheat gluten, wheat, and taurine (GWT) (RF1, RF2, RF3), three diets with 33.3, 66.7, and 100% SPC replaced by GWT (RS2, RS2, RS3) and one diet with 50% FM and 50% SPC replaced by GWT (RFS). Results showed that feed intake (FI), weight gain (WG), protein retention efficiency, and liver superoxide dismutase activity increased linearly, while feed conversion ratio (FCR) decreased linearly with the decrease of dietary FM. Additionally, FI, WG, and FCR significantly increased with decreasing dietary SPC. Overall, 100% FM or 61.2% SPC can be safely replaced by wheat gluten in the red-spotted grouper diet containing 20.0% FM and 21.4% SPC.