QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Fernandez, F. Articles by Baanante, I. V. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Fernandez, F. Articles by Baanante, I. V.

---

Articles

Dietary Chromic Oxide Does Not Affect the Utilization of Organic Compounds but Can Alter the Utilization of Mineral Salts in Gilthead Sea Bream Sparus aurata¹

Felipe Fernandez^*,2, Anna G. Miquel^*, Roberto Martinez^*, Esther Serra^*, Jordi Guinea, Francisco J. Narbaiza^*, Anna Caseras^** and Isabel V. Baanante^**

^* Departamento de Ecología, Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Biología, Diagonal 645, and ^** Departamento de Bioquímica, Facultad de Farmacia, Diagonal 643, Universidad de Barcelona, 08071 Barcelona, Spain

²To whom correspondence should be addressed.

This study was conducted to determine whether the level of chromic oxide supplemented to diets containing gelatinized starch as the carbohydrate source affects digestibility, body composition, growth performances, and liver enzyme activities in gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata. Gilthead sea bream fingerlings were fed diets containing gelatinized corn starch as the carbohydrate source and several levels of chromic oxide (0, 5, 10 and 20 g/kg) for 6 wk. No effect of dietary chromium level was detected on carbon, nitrogen, or dry matter digestibility. Calcium and phosphorus digestibility were higher in fish fed the diet supplemented with 5 g/kg chromic oxide than in fish fed the other supplemented diets. Dietary chromium did not affect dry matter, carbon, nitrogen, protein, or lipid concentrations in fish. However, fish fed 5 g/kg chromic oxide generally had higher levels of calcium, phosphorus, and ash than fish fed the other Cr-containing diets. Chromium concentration was significantly higher in fish fed the diets with 0.5 and 1% chromic oxide than in fish fed the control diet. Chromium supplementation of the diets did not affect the specific growth rate, the food efficiency ratio, the protein efficiency ratio, or, protein or nitrogen retention of the fish. Blood glucose and the activity of several liver enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism were unaffected by dietary chromic oxide. Alanine aminotransferase was lower in the fish fed the diet with 10 g/kg of chromic oxide than in unsupplemented controls. Our results indicate that chromic oxide can be used as a neutral marker in fish nutrition studies involving organic compounds, but not mineral salts.

KEY WORDS: • chromic oxide • digestibility • growth • carbohydrate metabolism • gilthead sea bream