Effects of Emulsifier Material and Vegetable Oils on Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Growth Performance

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Polyglycerol polyricinoleate, (PGPR; E-476) as a dietary emulsifier supplement with sunflower and linseed oil on zebrafish (Danio rerio) growth performance and feed utilization. The control diet included only fish oil whereas other experimental diets included 6% sunflower oil and linseed oil with and without PGPR at %0.06. A total of 180 zebrafish larvae were used in the experiment. At the end of the experiment, the whole body samples were taken for proximate and fatty acid analysis. The fish were fed diets that contained PGPR, S0%L0% (PGPR), S6%L0% (PGPR) and S0%L6% (PGPR), had higher values (p˂0.05) in final weight (557.1, 521.3 and 622 mg), weight gain (1982.83, 2129.5 and 2779.56%), specific growth rate (2.062, 2.099 and 2.272), digested lipids amount (127.23, 122.65 and 148.52 mg), feed conversion efficiency rate (1.683, 1.893 and 1.725), protein efficiency ratio (1.321, 1.181 and 1.31) and whole body lipid percentage (44.37, 37.9827 and 46.7063 %), respectively. The percentages of fatty acids in fish tissues that fed diet with PGPR diets, S0%L0% (PGPR), S6%L0% (PGPR) and S0%L6% (PGPR), were higher (p˂0.05); ΣSFAs (16.695, 12.732 and 14.672 %), ΣMFAs (17.748, 16.014 and 17.922%), and ΣPUFAs (9.926, 9.235 and 14.111%), respectively, which reflected a positive influence of the emulsifier on zootechnical performance variables. Briefly, the results suggest that dietary use of linseed oil with particularly PGPR appeared to be a better alternative to fish oil.