Palatability of Feed Containing Different Concentrations of Erythromycin Thiocyanate to Chinook Salmon
- 1 October 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in The Progressive Fish-Culturist
- Vol. 49 (4) , 241-247
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8640(1987)49<241:pofcdc>2.0.co;2
Abstract
The feeding behavior of juvenile chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) was observed to determine the palatability of feed containing the antibiotic erythromycin thiocyanate. Individual fish in aquaria were offered feed pellets containing 0, 6.7, 10.0, or 12.0 μg erythromycin/mg feed. Compared with fish offered a diet without erythromycin, fish offered pellets with antibiotic took a significantly longer time to strike each pellet, ejected individual pellets more often, took a longer time to consume each pellet, and consumed fewer total pellets. The high rejection rate of the diets containing 10.0 and 12.0 μg erythromycin/mg was attributed to the unpalatability of the drug at these concentrations. Fish took more time to strike the drug-treated versus the antibiotic-free (control) pellets even during the first feeding trial, indicating that both smell and taste may play roles in determining feed consumption behavior. The effectiveness of feeding erythromycin thiocyanate to juvenile chinook salmo...This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: