Relative Effect of Two Dietary Water-Soluble Analogues of Menaquinone on Coagulation and Packed Cell Volume of Blood of Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

Triplicate lots of fingerling lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) (initial mean weight, 5.3 g) were fed a basal, semipurified diet, or this basal diet supplemented with either 1.0 or 2.0 ppm of either menadione sodium bisulfite (MSB) or menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite (MPB) for 18 wk at 14 C. Neither form of vitamin K had a significant effect on the growth, food conversion, or body composition of the fish.Fish fed 1 ppm of MSB had a significantly higher mean packed cell volume (PCV) than those fed 2 ppm of either analogue. Trout fed 2 ppm of MPB had an intermediate PCV which was not significantly different from that of trout fed either 1 ppm MPB or 2 ppm MSB. A dietary level of 1 ppm MPB (providing an equivalent menaquinone concentration of about 0.5 mg/kg of diet) is sufficient to insure normal coagulation of lake trout blood and a satisfactory PCV.