Fig. 1

Experimental design evaluating impact of early-feeding exposure of plant-based diet on its future acceptance. a Feeding protocol. Rainbow trout swim-up fry (50–150 mg) received for 3 weeks either the plant-based diet V or diet M (first-feeding period, details on diet are given in text) after which both groups received diet M (7-month intermediate growth phase). Both groups were then challenged for 25 days by feeding diet V during which voluntary feed intake, growth and feed utilisation efficiency were monitored (V-challenge. No difference in initial body weight was noted at the start of the V-challenge. The asterix indicate the sampling times for the present microarray study. b During the final V-challenge, fish of nutritional history V vs M displayed a higher (P < 0.05) feed intake (FI) and specific growth rate (SGR) and a tendency for improved efficiency of feed utilization (FE, P = 0.06), underlining the positive impact of the early diet V feeding (see [34] for extra details on the rearing conditions and V-challenge results). # denotes a significant difference due to nutritional history (P < 0.05)