Performance Responses and Fillet Quality of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to Increasing Addition Levels of Dietary Supplementation of Guanidinoacetic Acid

Pedro Henrique Sessegolo Ferzola; Judith Ringel; Elena Beneder; Carsten Schulz; Martin Gierus

doi:10.3390/ani15020267

Performance Responses and Fillet Quality of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to Increasing Addition Levels of Dietary Supplementation of Guanidinoacetic Acid

Animals (Basel). 2025 Jan 18;15(2):267. doi: 10.3390/ani15020267.

Authors

Pedro Henrique Sessegolo Ferzola^{1

2}, Judith Ringel³, Elena Beneder⁴, Carsten Schulz^{5

6}, Martin Gierus^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Animal Nutrition, Livestock Products, and Nutrition Physiology, Department of Agrobiotechnology, BOKU University, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
² Austrian Competence Centre for Feed and Food Quality, Safety & Innovation (FFoQSI) GmbH, 3430 Tulln, Austria.
³ AlzChem Trostberg GmbH, 83308 Trostberg, Germany.
⁴ Biotechnological Processes, University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, Biotech Campus Tulln, 3430 Tulln, Austria.
⁵ Institute of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Department of Marine Aquaculture, Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany.
⁶ Fraunhofer Research Institution for Individualized and Cell-Based Medical Engineering, Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources, Hafentorn 3, 25761 Büsum, Germany.

Abstract

Guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) plays an important role in cellular energy use and protein synthesis. The objectives of this study were to determine the optimal level of dietary GAA regarding the growth performance and fillet characteristics of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). A total of 300 trout (initial weight, 66.84 ± 7.82 g) were fed isonitrogenous (34%) and isocaloric (20.6 MJ kg^-1) diets with increasing levels of GAA (0.00, 0.06, 0.12, 0.18%) for 90 days. The results showed that trout fed GAA (either 0.06, 0.12, or 0.18%) yielded better (p < 0.05) performance (BW, BWG, FCR, and SGR) than trout fed the control diet (0.00% GAA inclusion). No differences (p > 0.05) were observed for BW, BWG, nor FCR among trout fed GAA. Nonetheless, trout fed a diet with a 0.12% GAA inclusion had the highest (p < 0.01) SGR. Fillet quality was not affected by GAA supplementation (p > 0.05) for cook loss, shear force, nor colour. Trout fed 0.06% GAA inclusion tended (p = 0.08) to have a higher WHC. Moreover, trout fed 0.12 and 0.18% GAA had lower (p < 0.05) pH values than trout fed the control diet and 0.06% GAA. Our findings give insights for the growth promotion and fillet quality of trout fed diets supplemented with GAA, especially at the level of 0.12%.

Keywords: fillet quality; guanidinoacetic acid; rainbow trout; specific growth rate.

Grants and funding

This work was created within a research project of the Austrian Competence Centre for Feed and Food Quality, Safety and Innovation (FFoQSI), Project No. C10-P14-W03. The COMETK1 Competence Center FFoQSI is funded by the Austrian federal ministries BMK, BMDW, and the Austrian provinces Lower Austria, Upper Austria, and Vienna within the scope of COMET—Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies. The programme COMET is handled by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).