MPC said " As well, the study, to me, suppoted the facts/idea that a plant based feed can be made to mimic, for the most part, a fish meal diet."

MPC that is exactly what they want you to think. That was the purpose of the study.

Here is my reply from the first thread

That is a gold mine of info not seen before wrt BG. It will take a few days to get through it. The study is very well done. Much thanks for the heads up.

If you read it keep in mind its purposes - to find an alternative to fish meal for young BG in closed systems. It is not about supp feeding in ponds for years but about aquaculture of BG to harvest size for food. Here is one key point made ... Diets based on fish meal protein are more likely to meet amino acid requirements of fishes (Gatlin et al. 2007). ]


The study provides in its methods - Finally, bluegills were provided a commercial feed (Aquamax-Grower-400, Purina 45 % crude protein, 16 % crude fat) for two consecutive days. … Feeding bluegills the commercial diet between test diets was done to avoid nutrient deficiencies that might arise due to the use of a single-ingredient test feed.

I think the use of this method speaks volumes about critical protein based amino acids and fish meal. Its needed in predator fish including BG and there is no current info that disputes this for supp feeding. We ask both Cargill and Purina at the PB conference if they were saying FM could be replaced by other products at this point for supp feeding and not a one of them even suggested yes. I have ask several other PhD fish nutritionists the same question and they said no. We simply don’t have the evidence that such a replacement will work – that is why the feed industry is supporting several of this type study. It is a hot topic right now and we do need the info. Keep in mind they are talking about farmed fish for food not supp feeding for recreational fisheries. There is a huge difference. More later as I digest the study.

There is an entire area of this study on social behavior of BG and its effect on growth. See Bruce's work for years on this subject and the Neff studies on BG. All are discussed here on PB. Fascinating info.

Last edited by ewest; 10/25/12 09:43 AM.