Growth, body composition, intestinal enzyme activities and microflora of juvenile Jian carp (Cyprinus carpio var. Jian) fed graded levels of dietary phosphorus

Abstract

A 9-week feeding trial was carried out with juvenile Jian carp (Cyprinus carpio var. Jian) to study the effects of dietary phosphorus on growth, body composition, intestinal enzyme activities and microflora. Quadruple groups of juvenile Jian carp (7.17 ± 0.01 g) were fed practical diets containing available phosphorus 1.7 (unsupplemented control), 3.6, 5.5, 7.3, 9.2 and 11.0 g kg−1 diet to satiation. Feed intake, specific growth ratio and feed efficiency were the lowest in fish fed the basal diet (P < 0.05). Body moisture, protein, lipid content and ash were all significantly affected by dietary available phosphorus levels (P < 0.05). Activities of trypsin, amylase, Na+, K+-ATPase, alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase were improved with increasing dietary phosphorus levels. Intestinal Aeromonas and Escherichia coli decreased with increasing dietary phosphorus up to 3.6 and 5.5 g kg−1 diet respectively (P < 0.05), while Lactobacillus increased with the increasing dietary phosphorus up to 9.2 g kg−1 diet (P < 0.05). These results suggested that phosphorus could enhance intestinal enzyme activities of juvenile Jian carp and the minimum dietary available phosphorus requirement for SGR of juvenile Jian carp (7.2–63.8 g) was 5.2 g kg−1 diet.