Digestive enzyme profile of Cyprinus carpio during ontogenicdevelopment

摘要

Enzymes involved in the digestion of food are of particular interest because of their intimate involvement in the hydrolysis of nutrients necessary for adequate growth and survival. Understanding of digestive capability is a relevant issue for the larval development of many aquaculture species. With differentiation of the digestive tract, the fish change slowly to their species-specific feeding habits, a development that also includes the adaptation of digestive enzymes. The high specific growth rates and maintenance requirements of fish larvae have fostered study of larval proteolytic enzymes that transform ingested proteins into readily absorbed compounds that will be used as substrates for energy production and the synthesis of structural proteins. Considering that young larvae had insufficient digestive enzyme capacity, Kolkovski et al. (1993, 1997) moved toward the supply of exogenous enzymes in compound diets. This approach led to some positive results in rearing of gilthead sea bream larvae, but has never been conclusive in other species.