The effect of different levels of Celmanax dietary supplement on growth, nutrition and biochemical indices of blood plasma in beluga (Huso huso Linnaeus, 1758) cultured in brakish water and pen culture

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different levels of Celmanax commercial prebiotic on growth performance, nutritional efficiency, blood and plasma biochemical indices in beluga, Huso huso (Linnaeus, 1758) in a 120-day feeding period. So that, 120 individuals of beluga with the average weight of 4.66 ± 0.26 kg were transferred to 12 holding cage nets, 1.20 × 1 × 2 m in size at a depth of 1.5 m with a completely randomized design as four treatments with three replications including control (without prebiotic) and three experimental treatments fed by diets containing 0.5, 1, 1.5 g/kg prebiotic. The results exhibited that adding Celmanax to the diet, especially 0.5 g/kg, significantly enhanced relative weight, daily growth rate, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio and relative eating (p<0.05). However, no significant effect was observed in the protein and fat ratio (p>0.05). There were also no significant differences between the treatments fed by prebiotic compared to control with respect to hemoglobin, mean corposcular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (p>0.05). Analyses on biochemical indices indicated that there were significant differences in total protein, glucose and triglyceride in blood plasma levels. Totally, according to the results, 0.5 g/kg Celmanax in diet can effectively enhance growth performance, nutritional efficiency and blood indices in cultured beluga.