Gut microbiome of demand-fed and batch-fed common carp

Feeding fish according to their own rhythm (demand feeding) is a strategy to stimulate fish growth and improve welfare. Demand feeding was previously found to improve growth and affect nitrogen excretion of common carp (Cyprinus carpio).The effects of demand feeding on the gut microbiome are presently still unknown. We investigated the gut microbiome of demand-fed and batch-fed carp fed at two dietary protein content levels from a feeding experiment (n = 24) using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.