Thesis Defence by Thi Mai Nguyen

  • When Feb 18, 2020 from 03:00 PM to 06:00 PM (Europe/Brussels / UTC100)
  • Where Auditoire L12 - rue Joseph Grafé 1 - 1er étage
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Influence of the content in dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids on lipid metabolisms and immune responses of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) - in vivo and in vitro approaches

The common carp Cyprinus carpio is an important aquaculture species; it is the most cultured fish for human food consumption. As a freshwater fish, it is able to biosynthesise long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) from PUFA precursors. LC-PUFAs play an important role in animals in general and in the fish immune system in particular. Their imbalance or inadequate supply can lead to negative effects on fish health.
The current thesis determined the influence of dietary fatty acid (FA) amounts present in various plant oil sources on (1) growth performance, feed utilisation and survival; (2) FA composition; (3) immune status and (4) pro and anti-inflammatory responses in common carp.
The tested lipid sources did not influence fish growth and survival, a mixture of two plant oils (sesame + linseed) even had a positive effect compared to fish oil. Common carp were able to biosynthesize LC-PUFA from PUFA precursors. The overall immune status in plant oil-fed fish did not alter compared to fish oil-fed ones, under normal conditions as well as following a bacterial challenge. The use of plant oil mixtures in aquaculture feed production can thus be highly encouraged.

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Mai will present the results of her PhD thesis, conducted in the Research Unit of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology (URBE) under the supervision of Patrick Kestemont.