Nutritional factors in the biochemical pathology of Corynebacterial kidney disease in the coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)

The influence of diet ingredient on the morbidity and biochemical pathogenesis of corynebacterial kidney disease was investigated using juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) fed the Abernathy dry ration made up with either corn gluten or cottonseed meal (isoprotein, isocaloric substitution). Evaluation of incidence of infection, pituitary activation and aspects of carbohydrate metabolism, acid-base balance, renal function, and hematopoietic activity showed that the actual disease incidence was about the same for both diets but the nonspecific stress of infection was more severe in fish fed the corn gluten.Discriminant function calculations combining four physiological parameters gave a probability of 0.86 for successfully diagnosing infected fish on the basis of these blood chemistry tests.