Dietary guaiacol improves the growth of juvenile abalone, Haliotis discus hannai Ino

We conducted a preliminarily study on the effects of dietary guaiacol on growth performance of abalone, Haliotis discus hannai Ino. Seven semi-purified diets were formulated with graded levels of guaiacol (0, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1 000 mg kg⁻¹). Abalone (initial weight: 0.29 ± 0.01 g; initial shell length: 8.55 ± 0.27 mm) were fed with these diets in a re-circulated water system for 152 days. Guaiacol significantly improved the specific growth rate (SGR) (P<0.05); excessive dietary guaiacol (1 000 mg kg⁻¹) led to significantly high mortality (P<0.05), and lipid content in the soft body increased significantly after dietary guaiacol (P<0.05). Activities of catalase and phenoloxidase (PO) in the viscera were significantly stimulated by dietary guaiacol (P<0.05). Broken-line analysis based on SGR indicated that the minimum dietary guaiacol for the optimal growth of juvenile abalone is 15.43 mg kg⁻¹.