Effect of a feeding attractant, dimethyl-.BETA.-propiothetin, on growth of marine fish.

Abstract

The effect of a dietary supplemented sulfonium compound, dimethyl-β-propiothetin (DMPT), on growth of marine fish (red sea bream, yellowtail, and flounder) was examined. Optimum con-centrations of DMPT used for feeding tests were 5mM (585μg its bromide/g diet) with red sea bream and 1mM (117μg its bromide/g diet) with yellowtail, respectively. Dietary adimnistration of optimum concentrations of DMPT elicited a significant increase in growth of these fish: the body weight gain of the DMPT group giving about 2.5 fold increase at the 18th day with red sea bream; about 4.5 fold increase at the 13th day with yellowtail; about 1.3 fold increase at the 13th week with flounder against the body weight gain of the control group.