COMPARATIVE EXPERIMENT ON FORMULATED DIET AND SILVER CARP MEAT FOR GROWTH OF THE GIANT SALAMANDER (ANDRIAS DAVIDIANUS)

To study the effects of formulated diet and silver carp meat on the growth, digestion and antioxidant capacity of the giant salamander, a total of 48 juveniles of giant salamanders with an initial body weight of (20.99±0.15) g were randomly divided into 2 groups with 3 replicates, each containing 8 giant salamanders. These two groups fish were fed artificial formulated diet (55.67% crude protein and 6.83% crude fat) and silver carp meat (18.03% crude protein and 4.11% crude fat) for 92 days. The results showed that: (1) the weight gain rate (WGR), specific growth rate (SGR), protein deposition rate (PRR) and muscle protein synthesis ability of giant salamander in the feed group were significantly higher than those in the fish meat group. There was no significant difference in feed coefficient (FCR) and survival rate (SR) between two groups (P>0.05). (2) the contents of crude protein, skin collagen and crude ash in the diet group were significantly higher than those in the fish meat group (P<0.05), while the contents of water, crude fat and muscle crude fat and crude ash in the whole body were significantly lower than those in the fish meat group (P<0.05). (3) the pepsinase activity of the giant salamander fed with silver carp meat was significantly higher than that of the feed group (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in H⁺-K⁺ATPase activity in stomach and digestive enzyme activity in intestine between two groups (P>0.05). (4) total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in the liver of the giant salamander fed with artificial formulated diet were significantly higher than those of the fish meat group (P<0.05), while malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the liver was lower than that of the fish meat group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in intestinal antioxidant index between two groups (P>0.05). These results indicated that artificial compound feed can improve giant salamander growth performance, the synthesis of skin collagen and liver antioxidant capacity, suggesting that artificial formulated diet can replace fresh bait as the main bait for the giant salamander.