Effects of intermittent feeding on compensatory growth, feed intake and body composition in Asian sea bass (Lates calcarifer)

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of various starvation and refeeding periods on growth, feed utilization and body composition in Asian sea bass (Lates calcarifer) with an average initial weight of 30.26±1.4 g (mean±SE). The fish were exposed to three different regimes: the control group fed twice daily to apparent satiation throughout the experiment (C), the first group starved for 4 days and refed for 16 days, this cycle was repeated two times (T1) and the second group starved for 8 days and refed for 32 days (T2). At the end of experiment, there were not any significant differences in growth and feeding performance among different treatments (p>0.05). Daily feed intake was significantly higher in the deprived fish than in the control fish (p<0.05). There were no differences in moisture, lipid, ash and nitrogen free extract (NFE) content of carcass at the end of different starvation and refeeding periods between the deprived and control fish (p>0.05). Starvation had a significant effect on protein content on one sampling date during the experimental period; protein content in T2 on day 8 was significantly lower compared to the control (p<0.05). Sea bass showed complete compensation indicating a high ability of the deprived fish to grow sufficiently to fully compensate for weight loss during starvation. The results suggested that the feeding schedule involving starvation-refeeding cycles could be a promising feed management option for the culture of this species.