Effects of Salinity on Growth Performance, Digestive Enzymes, and Nonspecific Immunity in Juvenile Hybrid Grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus♀ × E. lanceolatus♂)

Abstract

In recent years, many studies on the effects of salinity on fish growth performance have been performed. A series of research results confirmed that appropriate salinity could guarantee healthy fish growth, while under extremely high or low salinity, the fish growth would be inhibited. Therefore, salinity is one of the critical factors ensuring aquaculture success. However, most previous studies only focused on fish growth and survival, without systematically analyzing the physiological and biochemical indicators or performing regression analysis of optimal salinity, especially for the hybrid grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus♀×E. lanceolatus♂). A 28-day experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different salinities on growth performance, body composition, digestive enzyme activities, antioxidant indices, and serum biochemical indices of the juvenile hybrid grouper [initial mean weight of (29.99±2.60) g]. This study used six salinity levels of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35, named S1 (control), S2, S3, S4, S5, and S6, respectively. During the experiment, the water temperature was kept at 25–28 ℃, DO≥6 mg/L, pH 8–9, and the contents of ammonia and nitrite nitrogen were both lower than 0.1 mg/L. Firstly, the results showed that different salinity levels had different impacts on the juvenile hybrid grouper growth performance. The weight growth rate (WGR) and special growth rate (SGR) first increased and then decreased with the rise in salinity and peaked in the S4 group, which were significantly higher than those of the S1 and S6 groups (P 0.05). The quadratic regression model analysis based on WGR and FE indicated that the optimal salinities were 22.18 and 23.16. Secondly, the whole fish crude lipid content in the S4 group (10.86%) was significantly higher than in the S1 (9.30%), S2 (9.62%), S3 (9.79%), and S6 (9.22%) groups (P 0.05). The muscle crude protein content and the whole fish and muscle moisture and ash had no significant differences among all groups (P > 0.05). Thirdly, juvenile hybrid grouper´s intestinal lipase and trypsin activities in the S3 and S4 groups were significantly higher than in other groups (P 0.05). Fourthly, salinity changes greatly impacted the antioxidant capacity of the juvenile hybrid grouper liver. The activities of the liver superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and catalase (CAT) were significantly higher in the S1 and S6 groups than in other groups (P < 0.05). The liver malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the S3 and S4 groups were significantly lower than that of other groups (P < 0.05). Fifthly, lower activity levels of the aspartate aminotransferase (AST), cereal third transaminase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (AKP) in serum were found in the S3 and S4 groups, which were significantly lower than those of the S1 and S6 groups (P < 0.05). Moreover, the ALT activity in the S6 group was significantly lower than in the S1 group (P < 0.05). The lower activity level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in serum was also found in the S3 and S4 groups, which were significantly lower than in other groups (P < 0.05). In summary, these results indicated that optimal salinity (20–25 mmol/L) could improve the juvenile hybrid grouper growth, while increasing the activities of digestive enzymes, antioxidant properties, and nonspecific immunity capacity, protecting the fish health. At the same time, the quadratic regression model analysis based on WGR and FE indicated that the optimal salinity for juvenile hybrid grouper is between 22.18 and 23.16.

Keywords

• epinephelus fuscoguttatus♀×e. lanceolatus♂
• salinity
• growth performance
• digestive enzymes
• nonspecific immunity