The effect of dietary supplementation of L-carnitine on growth indices and survival rate in Sobaity seabream Sparidentex hasta

One of the major issues in aquaculture is to keep balance between growth rate of fish and optimal use of consumed food. L-carnitine is considered an effective food supplement for fish growth. Sobaity seabream is one of the commercially important species in the Persian Gulf that is highly considered in aquaculture too. Growth indices and survival rate of 240 Sobaity fingerlings with mean weight of 3.01±0.03g were investigated during ten weeks after supplementing diet with L-carnitine. The study was performed with four levels of 0.0, 500, 1000 and 1800 mg L-carnitine per kg of diet each with 3 replicates based on the satiation. Sobaity fingerlings fed the level of 1000 mg L-carnitine per kg of diet had the highest growth rate and the lowest feed conversion rate (P<0.05). The highest average specific growth rate, percentage body weight gain, daily growth rate and protein efficiency ratio was obtained in level of 1000 mg L-carnitine per kg of diet (P<0.05). Condition factor and survival rate were not significantly different between the treatments (P>0.05). Based on the results, supplementation of diet with L-carnitine would favorably influence the growth performance of Sobaity and the most effective dose on growth indices was the level of 1000 mg L-carnitine per kg of diet.