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Influence of dietary protein levels on growth, digestibility, digestive enzyme activity and stress tolerance in white‐leg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931), reared in high‐density tank trials
Author(s) -
Xia Sudong,
Li Yong,
Wang Wenqi,
Rajkumar Mayalagu,
Kumaraguru Vasagam Kumaravel Paramasivam,
Wang Hua
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
aquaculture research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-2109
pISSN - 1355-557X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2109.2010.02585.x
Subject(s) - litopenaeus , biology , shrimp , digestive enzyme , zoology , feed conversion ratio , protease , salinity , dietary protein , weight gain , food science , enzyme , body weight , biochemistry , amylase , endocrinology , fishery , ecology
The effects of dietary protein (DP) levels on the growth, digestibility, digestive enzyme activity and stress tolerance of Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931) were investigated in high‐density (375 m –3 ) tank trials. Shrimps (6.2 ± 0.2 g) were fed diets with five different protein levels (31%, 35%, 39%, 43% and 47%) for 60 days. The results showed that variations in DP significantly ( P <0.05) influenced the growth performance, digestibility, enzyme activity and their ability to tolerate stress. Weight gain showed a linear increase in relation to crude protein (CP) up to 43% and showed a slight decrease with a further increase to 47%. Feed conversion ratio was observed to be the lowest in CP 43%: 2.53. A higher protein efficiency ratio was observed with the low‐protein diet CP31 (1.07); however, it was not significantly different from the rest of the dietary treatments. Protein digestibility was the highest (75.71%) in CP47 and the lowest (71.94%) in CP31. Protease activity ranged between 63.7 and 70.2 (U Protein –1 ), and showed a positive correlation with the DP levels. Shrimp fed CP43 well tolerated a sudden decline in salinity and survived for 548.3 min in fresh water. Observations from this study indicate that a DP level around 43% could be optimum for L. vannamei in high‐density culture systems in the absence of natural productivity.