Simon Davies, International Aquafeed editor, puts pen to paper in this article on the the role of niacin in sustaining healthy growth and production.
In 1951 Dr John E Halver of the School of Fisheries Science, University of Washington, USA presented the ‘model semi-purified fish diet’ to the aquatic nutrition research community. This innovation allowed for the proliferation of deficiency studies with mainly salmonid fish such as rainbow trout and Pacific salmon to evaluate the significance of vitamins in complete diets for cultured fish.
With such an ‘ideal’ diet, vitamins could easily be assayed by using this vitamin test diet, consisting of ‘vitamin free’ carbohydrate and protein sources i.e. casein, purified gelatin, potato starch, hydrogenated cotton seed oil, alpha-cellulose flour, minerals, cod liver oil, combined with crystalline vitamins. Each vitamin could then be systematically assessed by selective exclusion from this advanced basal diet formulation. The water soluble vitamins such as the B-complex and especially vitamin C (ascorbate) were all found to be essential in fish as in other terrestrial animals of commercial importance and indeed having the same basic functions as in humans.
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| Niacin in sustaining healthy growth and production |
