Studio degli effetti della somministrazione di feed attractants di sintesi sul benessere e la riproduzione della specie modello zebrafish (Danio rerio)

The purpose of the present study was to test synthetic flavorings as potential feed attractants in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Six experimental groups were established in triplicate: (i) CTRL group, fed a commercial zebrafish diet; (ii) PG group, fed a control diet fortified with pro-pylene glycol; (iii) F25-, F35- and F32- groups, fed a control diet fortified with 1 percent of the two attractant flavors (F25+ and F35+ diets) or the repulsive flavor (F32- diet), respectively; (vi) ROT group, fed the two attractant diets, each fed individually in a weekly rotation scheme. All synthetic flavorings tested did not affect the overall health of the fish. Generally, both attractant flavorings F25 and F35 were confirmed as effective positive flavorings in promoting growth performance and food intake while stimulating appetite and improving the nutritional status of fish. Especially, fish fed the F35 diet showed the highest growth rate and the best feed intake performance. This last aspect, in particular, plays a key role in the adult stage, as a good accumulation of energy reserves by the organism also has positive consequences on important metabolic processes such as reproduction.The present study has provided important results on the possible use of attractive synthetic flavorings for feed production, opening up new sustainable and more economically valuable opportunities for the aquaculture sector.