Open AccessEfficacy of Three Methionine Sources in Diets for Pacific White Shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei
Author(s) -
Forster Ian P.,
Dominy Warren G.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of the world aquaculture society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1749-7345
pISSN - 0893-8849
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-7345.2006.00060.x
Subject(s) - methionine , litopenaeus , shrimp , biology , fish meal , zoology , feed conversion ratio , food science , cystine , meal , seawater , amino acid , fishery , biochemistry , fish <actinopterygii> , body weight , ecology , endocrinology , cysteine , enzyme
.— To examine the need for supplemental dietary methionine and to determine the ability of different methionine sources to meet this need for Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei , a growth trial was conducted. A control diet (30% crude protein) was formulated to be deficient in methionine by inclusion of high levels of dehulled, solvent‐extracted soybean meal and with no fish meal (methionine level was 0.45% of diet as fed, 1.5% of total amino acids). Three test diets were manufactured based on the control diet but supplemented with l ‐methionine, dl ‐methionine, or an analog of methionine (2‐hydroxy‐4‐methylthio butanoic acid [HMTBA], calcium salt) at the level of 0.5% as fed (equivalent to 1.5% of total amino acids). Cystine was constant among these diets at 0.5% of diet as fed. A commercial feed (30% crude protein) was included as a reference. The culture vessels were flat‐bottomed, cylindrical, black fiberglass tanks (1.5‐m diameter) initially filled with 1000 L seawater and supplied with aeration and seawater from a well at a rate of 2 L/min. At the end of the trial, all surviving shrimp were counted and weighed. The trial was run outdoors, with a mean water temperature of 25.9 C. The mean survival, final weight, growth rate, and feed efficiency of shrimp in the control group were 95.9%, 10.8 g, 0.93 g/wk, and 0.44 g/g, respectively. The mean values of all the test treatments were 96.9%, 11.6 g, 1.00 g/wk, and 0.47 g/g, respectively. The final weight and growth rate of shrimp fed the control diet were significantly lower than those of shrimp fed the methionine‐supplemented diets, indicating that this species has a requirement for dietary methionine. There were no significant differences ( P > 0.05) in any of the parameters among the test treatments, indicating that l ‐methionine, dl ‐methionine, and HMTBA can be used to meet the methionine requirement of this species under these experimental conditions. It is concluded that the three sources of methionine examined in this trial, l ‐methionine, dl ‐methionine, and HMTBA, are similar in their ability to meet the methionine requirement of this species.