A 6‐week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with peony pollen on growth performance, intestinal function, fillet quality and fatty acids profiles of common carp. The results showed that supplementation of peony pollen significantly improved the growth performance. The textures of muscle in terms of hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness and resilience were higher in peony pollen groups than control group. Dietary supplementation with peony pollen significantly improved the fold height, enterocyte height, microvillus height, intestinal wall thickness and intestinal crypt height of mid‐intestine from common carp in contrast to basal diet.
Moreover, peony pollen could significantly increase digestive capacity observed in terms of an increase in lipase, amylase and trypsase activities. Peony pollen supplementation enhanced the antioxidant capacity via an increase in catalase, and total antioxidant capacity, accompanied by a significant reduction in malondialdehyde. Dietary supplementation with peony pollen may regulate lipid metabolism and fatty acids composition of common carp.
Overall, the peony pollen could improve the fish health status by elevating immune responses and antioxidant capacity of intestine and system immunity. And the optimum concentration was recommend is 30 g peony pollen per kilogram feed. Further studies on the peony pollen practical approaches during culturing periods in the aquaculture industry are needed.
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Ren, H., Huang, Y. and Lin, L. (2021), Effects of dietary supplementation with peony pollen on growth, intestinal function, fillet quality and fatty acids profiles of common carp. Aquacult Nutr. https://doi.org/10.1111/anu.13235