Improving the growth performance of shrimp fed with low fish meal diet
T Phileo by Lesaffre
he increasing price of fish meal and its reduced availability have pushed the aquaculture industry to develop new feed formulations with plant-based ingredients replacing a significant proportion of fish meal content. Although vegetable sources like soy, rapeseed, and sunflower, are high in protein content, they present several pitfalls that hinder shrimp production. The main drawback of plant-based protein sources is the presence of anti-nutritional factors (ANFs), like proteinase inhibitors and tannins, among others, that have not been inactivated during feed processing. ANFs are molecules naturally produced by plants and shaped
Figure 1- Final body weight of Whiteleg shrimp after nine weeks of feeding (initial body weight: 1.04g). Shrimp were divided into five experimental treatments and fed with different feed formulations (4 tanks per treatment, 20 juveniles per tank, 200L tanks): 15 percent fish meal diet, five percent fish meal diet, and five percent fish meal diet supplemented with 0.5, 1.5 or 2.5 percent ProsafÂŽ feed additive
by evolution to deter predators. When ingested in small amounts, such molecules affect feed digestibility, thereby reducing feed efficiency and growth performance, and when ingested in large amounts, they can even become toxic. Plant-based ingredients also show negative consequences for the feeding process. Particularly, shrimp fed diets with plantbased ingredients often show a slower and less efficient feeding process. This leads to the loss of nutrients through leaching into the water which, in turn, increases feed conversion ratios (FCR) and decreases nutrient availability, and thereby ultimately reducing shrimp growth performances. For all of the above reasons, the shrimp aquaculture industry is facing a pressing need for new feed formulations that allow to reduce fish meal in feed without impairing shrimp growth performance. ProsafÂŽ, a premium yeast extract developed by
Figure 2- FCR of Whiteleg shrimp measured after nine weeks of feeding (initial body weight: 1.04 g). Shrimp were divided into five experimental treatments and fed with different feed formulations (4 tanks per treatment, 20 juveniles per tank, 200L tanks): 15 percent fish meal diet, five percent fish meal diet, and five percent fish meal diet supplemented with 0.5, 1.5 or 2.5 percent ProsafÂŽ feed additive
24 | June 2019 - International Aquafeed