Arginine intervention mitigates growth retardation and gut antioxidant stress in orange-spotted groupers (Epinephelus coioides) fed high soybean meal diets

This study investigated whether dietary arginine (Arg) addition alleviates growth performance and antioxidant stress in grouper (Epinephelus coioides) fed high-soybean meal diet (SBM diet). Five experimental diets were formulated to contain 48 % protein and 12 % lipid: a fish meal (FM) diet (52 % FM...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cong Huo, Ruyi Xiao, Kun Wang, Yunzhang Sun, Jidan Ye
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:Aquaculture Reports
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352513425003643
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Summary:This study investigated whether dietary arginine (Arg) addition alleviates growth performance and antioxidant stress in grouper (Epinephelus coioides) fed high-soybean meal diet (SBM diet). Five experimental diets were formulated to contain 48 % protein and 12 % lipid: a fish meal (FM) diet (52 % FM), a SBM diet (46 % SBM), and three SBM diets supplemented with 0.5 %, 1.0 %, or 1.5 % Arg (Arg-0.5, Arg-1, and Arg-1.5, respectively). Juvenile groupers (15.10 ± 0.2 g/fish) were divided into five groups with triplicate tanks and fed the experimental diets for 56 days. Compared with SBM diet, Arg-0.5 diet exhibited significantly improved growth and feed utilization, condition factor and serum lipid profiles-elevated by increased total cholesterol and HDL-C, along with reduced TG and LDL-C). Additionally, Arg-0.5 diet exhibited elevated nitric oxide and IGF-1 levels, along with reduced serum blood urea nitrogen level. Furthermore, Arg-0.5 diet enhanced gut antioxidant capacity (increased SOD activity and reduced MDA level), digestive enzyme activities (trypsin, lipase, amylase), mucosal fold height in proximal and mid gut segments. It also upregulated arginase-I and nitric oxide synthase activity while modulating inflammatory responses-downregulating pro-inflammatory cytokine genes (IL-8, IL-12, IL-1β, TNF-α) and upregulating anti-inflammatory genes (IL-10, TGF-β1). Notably, higher Arg supplementation (1.0 % and 1.5 %) did not yield additional benefits. These results indicate that 0.5 % Arg supplementation effectively mitigates SBM-induced growth retardation and enteritis in juvenile groupers by enhancing gut antioxidant capacity, digestive function, and mucosal integrity while suppressing inflammatory responses.
ISSN:2352-5134