Q. Zou,Y. Huang,J. Cao,H. Zhao,G. Wang,Y. Li,Q. Pan
The present research evaluated the effects of four feeding stimulants on feed intake (FI), growth performance, body composition, serum biochemical parameters, digestive enzyme activities and appetite-related gene expression for juvenile GIFT tilapia. Five experimental high plant-based diets (with 0, 0.4 g kg −1 dimethyl-β-propiothetin (DMPT), 0.6 g kg −1 dimethylthetin (DMT), 1.8 g kg −1 tryptophan (Trp) and 6 g kg −1 betaine (Bet), respectively supplemented) were fed to juvenile GIFT tilapia ( Oreochromis sp .) (3.34 ± 0.01 g) for 8 weeks. The results showed that FI was significantly increased by Trp and DMT. The highest specific growth rate (SGR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) was observed for fish fed Bet diet, followed by DMT. Serum triglyceride was significantly increased by DMPT. Fish fed Bet diet showed significantly higher intestinal protease, liver protease and intestinal amylase activities. The neuropeptide Y (NPY) mRNA expression in brain was significantly improved by Trp, and ghrelin mRNA expression in stomach was significantly increased by DMT. It is concluded that supplementation of Trp or DMT could act as an effective feeding stimulants (FS) in high plant-based diets for juvenile GIFT tilapia, which might be associated with the relatively higher orexigenic (NPY or ghrelin) genes expression, and supplementation of Bet could improve SGR, PER and reduce feed conversion ratio (FCR) of juvenile GIFT tilapia.
Fe 3 O 4 poly (styrene-glycidyl methacrylate) magnetic porous microspheres (MPPMs) were introduced to immobilize Klebsiella sp. FD-3, an iron-reducing bacterium applied to reduce Fe(III)EDTA. The effects of potential inhibitors (S 2− , SO 3 2− , NO 3 − , NO 2 − and Fe(II)EDTA-NO) on Fe(III)EDTA reduction were investigated. S 2− reacted with Fe(III)EDTA as an electron-shuttling compound and enhanced the reduction. But Fe(III)EDTA reduction was inhibited by SO 3 2− and Fe(II)EDTA-NO due to their toxic to microorganisms. Low concentrations of NO 3 − and NO 2 − accelerated Fe(III)EDTA reduction, but high concentrations inhibited the reduction, whether by free or immobilized FD-3. The immobilized FD-3 performed better than freely-suspended style. The substrate mass transfer and diffusion kinetics in the porous microspheres were calculated. The value of Thiele modulus and effectiveness factors showed that the intraparticle diffusion was fairly small and neglected in this carrier. Fe(III)EDTA reduction fitted first-order model at low Fe(III)EDTA concentration, and changed to zero-order model at high concentrations.