Digesta and Plasma Metabolomics of Rainbow Trout Strains with Varied Tolerance of Plant-Based Diets Highlights Potential for Non-Lethal Assessments of Enteritis Development.

The replacement of fishmeal in aquafeeds is essential to the sustainability of aquaculture. Besides the procurement of alternative protein sources, fish can also be selected for better performance on plant-based alternative diets. Rainbow trout () is one such species in which the strain ARS- has been selected for higher growth and enhanced utilization when fed soy-based diets. The aim of this study was to compare fish growth and plasma and digesta metabolomes between ARS- and two commercial strains (CS-1 and CS-2), when fed plant-protein (PM) and fishmeal-based (FM) diets, and to correlate them with the onset of enteritis. An NMR-metabolomics approach was taken to assess plasma and digesta metabolite profiles. Diet and strain showed significant effects on fish growth, with the ARS- fish receiving the PM diet reaching the highest final weight at sampling. Multivariate analysis revealed differences between plasma and digesta metabolite profiles of ARS- and CS (CS-1 considered together with CS-2) PM-fed groups in the early stages of enteritis development, which was confirmed by intestinal histology. As reported in previous studies, the ARS- strain performed better than the commercial strains when fed the PM diet. Our findings also suggest that metabolomic profiles of plasma and digesta, samples of which can be obtained through non-lethal methods, offer valuable insight in monitoring the occurrence of enteritis in carnivorous aquaculture species due to plant-based diets.