Metabolism of tryptophan, methionine and arginine in Diplodus sargus larvae fed rotifers: effect of amino acid supplementation.

Dietary amino acids imbalances have been described when fish larvae are fed rotifers, what may lead to a reduction in growth rate. The tube-feeding technique can be used to assess the effect of free amino acid short term supplementation. In this study supplementation of tryptophan, methionine and arginine were tested in Diplodus sargus. Single crystalline (14)C amino acids as well as a mix of (14)C amino acids were used as tracers to compare results of individual amino acids metabolism with the average of all amino acids. The results show low absorption efficiencies for tryptophan (70%) and arginine (80%) and similar absorption for methionine (90%) when compared with the average of all amino acids. Supplementation of these amino acids seems to be viable but it did not result in higher retention compared to the amino acid mix. This means that tryptophan, methionine and arginine are probably not the limiting amino acid when Diplodus sargus larvae are fed rotifers. However, supplementation in these IAA may be required for their roles as precursors of important molecules other than proteins, in order to improve larval quality and/or performance.