Effects of Cysteamine hydrochloride on Growth Performance and Nonspecific Immunity of Chinese Soft-shelled Turtle

The experiment was conducted to determine the effects of cysteamine hydrochloride on growth performance and nonspecific immunity of Chinese soft-shelled turtle.Seven hundreds and fifty healthy Chinese soft-shelled turtles (220±10 g of average weight) were randomly divided into five groups,each group included three replicates of 50 soft-shelled turtles.The turtles were given a special diet supplemented with different effective dosages of cysteamine hydrochloride. The control group was fed basal diet,groupⅠ was supplemented with 6 000 mg/kg CSH (cysteamine hydrochloride) which was fed once every 6 days,another three treatments were supplemented consecutively with 500 mg/kg CSH for group Ⅱ,1 000 mg/kg CSH for group Ⅲ,1 500 mg/kg CSH for group Ⅳ.The experiment lasted for 90 days.Chinese soft-shelled turtles fed with 1 000 mg/kg CSH had significantly increased weight gain rate and feed efficiency.Diets supplemented with CSH also improved the level of serum somatostatin and gastrin in Chinese soft-shelled turtles.The ratio of RNA/DNA increased when 1 000 mg/kg CSH were supplemented (P0.05),and the CSH had improved the nonspecific immunity of Chinese soft-shelled turtles.The diet of CSH supplementation can improve the growth and the level of nonspecific immunity.