Nutrient composition of fairy shrimp S treptocephalus sirindhornae nauplii as live food and growth performance of giant freshwater prawn postlarvae

Nutritional efficacy of fairy shrimp ( S treptocephalus sirindhornae ) nauplii, as a live food, was studied for growth performance and survival rate of giant freshwater prawn ( M acrobrachium rosenbergii ) postlarvae. A feeding experiment was designed with four different feeds: dry commercial feed, fairy shrimp nauplii, A rtemia sp. nauplii and adult M oina macrocopa . Results from the nutritional composition revealed that fairy shrimp nauplii had protein and lipid contents of 54.58 ± 2.8 g kg −1 and 255 ± 2.8 g kg −1 , respectively. The highest value for an individual amino acid in fairy shrimp was lysine (140.7 ± 1.6 g kg −1 ). The essential amino acids content in the whole body of the larval prawns was in the range of 66.7–67.5 g kg −1 . Fairy shrimp nauplii had the highest essential amino acid ratio ( A / E ) of lysine, similarly, in musculature of prawn larvae. Weight gain and specific growth rate of the postlarvae fed with fairy shrimp nauplii were significantly higher than those fed with A rtemia nauplii, adult M oina and dry commercial feed. The presented results suggest that S . sirindhornae nauplii can be used as a nutritionally adequate food for freshwater prawn M . rosenbergii postlarvae.