GROWTH, BODY-COMPOSITION, AND ORGANOLEPTIC EVALUATION OF CHANNEL CATFISH FED DIETS CONTAINING DIFFERENT PERCENTAGES OF DISTILLERS GRAINS WITH SOLUBLES

Juvenile channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) were stocked in twelve 1.25-m3 floating cages at densities of 320 fish/m3 and fed to satiety twice daily for 110 d with one of four diets. Each diet contained a ce rtain percentage (0, 10, 20, or 30%) of distillers' grains with solubl es (DGS), which partially replaced soybean meal and com. Individual we ights of fish, survival, food conversion (FC, weight of feed given/wei ght gain by fish), and body composition (percentage moisture, protein, fat, and ash) of waste (head, skin, and viscera) and dressed carcasse s were not significantly different (P > 0.05) among treatments. Fish f ed a diet containing 10% DGS (mean individual total length, 26.7 cm) w ere significantly shorter (P < 0.05) than fish fed a diet containing 3 0% DGS (27.6 cm), but they were not significantly different in length (P > 0.05) from fish fed diets with 0 and 20% DGS. Average individual weight was 219 g, survival was 92.1%, and FC was 1.6. Percentage fat ( dry-matter basis) in the carcasses of cage-reared channel catfish aver aged 38%. Organoleptic evaluation of fillets indicated that the fat co mplex flavor was of significantly higher intensity (P < 0.05) in cage- reared fish than in pond-raised fish. However, organoleptic evaluation indicated that DGS impart no adverse taste to channel catfish. These data indicate that DGS can be used in a least-cost diet formulation fo r channel catfish at rates of up to 30%. This option allows feed produ cers flexibility in diet formulations for commercial catfish diets.