Utilization of carbohydrates has reported beneficial effects when supplemented to aquafeed formulas. Carbohydrates are a well-known source of body energy, high-quality binding ingredient and economical component for aquafeed. When inadequate or insufficient carbohydrates are presented in the diet, other energy-yielding nutrients, such as proteins and lipids are catabolized to produce energy. Thus, inadequate dietary carbohydrate source could result in reduced growth performance, high feed conversion ratio, fatty liver deposition and mortality. On the other hand, an appropriate carbohydrate source could lead to cost reduction of formulated diets, lessen ammonia excretion, improve protein consumption, and increase farm profitability. This protein sparing effect of carbohydrates is becoming of great interest in aquaculture. Currently, little is known about carbohydrate metabolism in Florida pompano, Trachinotus carolinus . Thus, the objective of this research was to determine the effects of different carbohydrate sources on Florida pompano growth. To this end, five isonitrogenous, isolipidic and isocaloric diets were formulated using different carbohydrate sources namely whole wheat grain flour, wheat starch, whole corn grain flour, corn starch and dextrinized corn starch. At the end of the 10-week growth trial, fish were assessed for growth performance, feed utilization, body composition, hepatic enzyme activity, gene expression and gut microbiome variations.
Overall, the results indicated that whole wheat grain flour is the more adequate dietary carbohydrate source based on production performance, physio-biochemical and molecular approaches. These data are critical when formulating a complete commercial feed for sustainable and profitable culturing of Florida pompano.