Dietary Lipid Sources Modulate Growth Performance, Foot Muscle Nutritional Quality, Antioxidant Status, and Survival Following Vibrio harveyi Challenge in Female Broodstock Haliotis discus hannai

Abstract

Dietary lipid sources influence growth, tissue nutrient composition, and physiological responses in aquatic animals, but their effects on female broodstock abalone remain insufficiently understood. This study evaluated the effects of five dietary lipid sources, including fish oil, perilla seed oil, safflower oil, olive oil, and lard, on growth performance, foot muscle nutritional quality, digestive-gland antioxidant status, and survival following Vibrio harveyi AP37 challenge in female broodstock Haliotis discus hannai. A total of 500 female abalone were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments, with four replicates per treatment, and fed isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets for 90 days. Results showed that the dietary lipid source significantly affected growth, foot muscle crude protein and lipid contents, amino acid and fatty acid compositions, and digestive-gland antioxidant status. The fish oil group showed the highest measured total amino acid and taurine contents and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) proportion in foot muscle, together with the highest observed final survival after V. harveyi challenge. Perilla seed oil and olive oil warrant further evaluation as alternative supplemental lipid sources under the present experimental conditions. These findings provide useful information for lipid source selection in formulated diets for female broodstock abalone.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Fishes, 2026 · DOI ↗