Compensatory growth responses to food restriction in the Chinese three-keeled pond turtle, Chinemys reevesii

Juvenile Chinese three-keeled pond turtles (Chinemys reevesii) were subjected to one of four different feeding regimens: ad libitum (AL), restricted (R), ad libitum-restricted (AL-R), or restricted-ad libitum (R-AL) for 13 weeks, to assess the compensatory growth (CG) response to food restriction and subsequent re-alimentation. After switching to ad libitum feeding, the turtles in R-AL group ate more food and grew faster than those in other groups. At the end of the trial, R-AL turtles achieved the comparable body weight as AL turtles, indicating that a complete CG response occurred. Cumulative food consumption over the entire period did not differ between R-AL turtles and AL turtles. Experimental treatment affected carcass composition. Carcass lipid content of AL turtles was greater than that of R and AL-R turtles, with R-AL turtles in between. Carcass protein content of R-AL turtles was slightly greater than that of other groups without statistical differences. Stored lipids might be consumed firstly when animals underwent food restriction. Our results reconfirmed the CG of C. reevesii after food restriction. However, it is still difficult to achieve a reduction in the cost of farm-raised turtle production by adopting a restricted-satiation feeding protocol.