Dietary myo-inositol requirement for Olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus (Temminch et Schlegel)

This study was aimed at examining the essentiality and requirement of inositol for Olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus. Six casein-gelatin-based semi-purified diets were formulated to contain five different levels of myo-inositol (MI) (designated as M0, M0+, M200, M400, M800 and M1600 for 0, 0+antibiotic, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 mg kg⁻¹ respectively). After 20 weeks of a long-term feeding trial, fish (initial body weight, 10 g) fed the M800 diet showed significantly increased growth performances and survival. Liver lipid concentration tended to decrease as the dietary MI increased, although there was no significant difference among all treatments. Polyunsaturated fatty acid in the liver of the fish fed the diets containing high levels (M1600) of MI was significantly increased. Hepatic inositol concentration of the fish was significantly increased by dietary MI supplementation. The intestinal biosynthesis of inositol by microflora seemed to be insufficient to prevent growth retardation in juvenile Olive flounder. The optimum level of dietary MI for juvenile Olive flounder was found to be 617 mg kg⁻¹ based on weight gain in a broken-line regression model. This finding indicates that MI supplementation is required at a concentration of at least 617 mg kg⁻¹ to maximize the growth performances and to prevent abnormal lipid metabolism.