Distillers Dried Grain as a Partial Replacement for Wheat Flour in the Diet of Juvenile Rockfish Sebastes schlegeli

A 9-week feeding experiment was designed to test the effects of the dietary inclusion of distillers dried grain (DDG) on the growth performance, body composition, and antioxidant activity of juvenile rockfish Sebastes schlegeli. Five isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets were formulated to contain 0% DDG (DDG0), 7% and 14% DDG from rice (diets DDG-R7 and DDG-R14, respectively), as well as 7% and 14% DDG from rice and wheat flour (diets DDG-RW7 and DDG-RW14, respectively). Three replicate groups of juvenile rockfish averaging $68.0{\pm}0.4g$ were fed one of the diets to apparent satiation twice a day. Survival, weight gain, feed efficiency, and the protein efficiency ratio of fish were not affected by dietary DDG (P > 0.05). Proximate and amino acid compositions of the whole body were not affected by dietary DDG (P > 0.05). Plasma total protein, glucose, total cholesterol, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, glutamate pyruvate transaminase, phospholipid, and triglyceride were not affected by dietary DDG (P > 0.05). Radical scavenging activity on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) in the plasma of rockfish fed the DDG-RW14 diet was higher than that of fish fed the DDG0 diet (P < 0.05). Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity in the liver of rockfish fed diets containing DDG was higher than that of fish fed the DDG0 diet (P < 0.05). Alkyl radical scavenging activity in the liver of rockfish fed the DDG-R7 diet was higher than that of fish fed the DDG0 diet (P < 0.05). These results suggest that DDG is a suitable ingredient for the partial replacement of wheat flour and can be used at a rate of up to 14% in the diet without incurring negative effects on the growth performance or body chemical composition of juvenile rockfish.