The effects of different levels dietary sodium acetate on growth performance and digestive enzymes activity in goldfish (Carassius auratus)

The present study investigates effects of different levels dietary sodium acetate (SA) salt on the growth and activity of digestive enzymes activity in goldfish (Carassius auratus). 120 fish (mean initial weight 14.24 ± 1.29 g) were fed 3 times a day with four experimental diets supplemented with 0, 2.5, 5 and 10 g/kg SA for 10 weeks. Biometry was done to measure growth and nutritional indices every two weeks. Also, six fish were randomly sampled at the end of experiment to study the activity of protease and lipase enzymes. The obtained results showed that fish fed with 5 g/kg SA had highest final weight, so there was a significant difference between the treatments compared to other treatments (P<0.05). However, no statistically significant difference was observed in other growth indices between control and SA fed fish (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the lipase and protease activities between different treatments (P> 0.05). The results of the current test showed that the use of 5 g/kg SA could increase the growth of this fish. However, no notable effect was noticed in case of the activity of the digestive enzymes.