Effect of dietary protein and lipid source on the growth, survival, condition indices, and body composition of marron, Cherax tenuimanus (Smith)
Introduction
Feed accounts for 40–60% of the production costs in aquaculture (D'Abramo and Sheen, 1991; Akiyama et al., 1992; Sarac et al., 1993), with protein sources accounting for a significant proportion of this cost (New, 1976; Akiyama and Dominy, 1991). The nutritional and energy requirements of aquatic animals can be provided from protein, carbohydrate, and lipid sources; should one source be in short supply in the diet, the animal can adjust to some extent to obtain its requirements from the others. This apparently simple physiological shunt, however, has implications for aquaculture. Further, the use of protein as an energy source can lead to deterioration in environmental conditions caused by deteriorating water quality.
The majority of formulated diets for decapod crustaceans in Australia, including those of freshwater crayfish, are presently produced using imported fish meal as the protein source. Recent nutrition research has focused on the evaluation of alternative cheap and cost-effective protein sources based on plant products (Kanazawa, 1991; Agung et al., 1995). However, plant sources also provide some dietary oil components and this influences the fatty acid profile of the formulated diet. Thus, alteration of the protein source in the diet can significantly affect the dietary fatty acid profile. The effects of the replacement of fish meal with plant-based protein sources on the lipid composition of aquaculture diets have not been studied in detail. Furthermore, no research has yet investigated the effect of the interaction between lipids and proteins on freshwater crayfish growth under commercial farming conditions, where pond flora provide a significant source of nutrition (Moore, 1986; D'Abramo and Sheen, 1991).
The aims of this experiment were:
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1. to evaluate the effect of the absence of supplementary dietary protein;
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2. to evaluate the influence of fish and plant protein and lipid source on the growth, survival, condition indices, and body composition of marron cultured under commercial farm conditions; and
- 3.
3. to investigate the effect of interaction of dietary proteins and lipids on the growth of marron.
Section snippets
Experimental system
Twelve purpose-built, drainable, earthen ponds located at Jurien Bay Marron Farm (JBMF), Jurien, Western Australia were used to evaluate the growth and survival of marron fed four test diets. All ponds were 70 × 15 m, varying in depth from 1 to 1.5 m deep. The slope of all pond embankments was 3:1. Ponds were randomly selected out of 38 ponds available at JBMF. All ponds were completely drainable via a PVC pipe (100 mm in diameter). By lifting the standpipe from the outlet at the deepest end of
Water quality
Ionic composition of pond water (Table 4) showed a general trend of increasing salt content with time, but not of a magnitude to influence significantly the results. Nitrite and nitrate levels ranged from 0.015 to 0.5 and from 0.5 to 5.0 mg/l (Table 4), respectively. Unionised ammonia levels were high (0.05–0.5 mg/l) during the last 4 months of the trial (Table 4). At the end of the trial, ponds receiving diet D4 had significantly lower (P <0.05) levels of unionised ammonia compared to other
Survival and water quality
The entire trial was marked by the low percentage survival (13.82–34.66%) of marron in all of the experimental ponds. The average survival of the entire JBMF (excluding experimental ponds used in this trial) was 16% for marron fed commercial diet having protein levels of 25% (15% animal protein and 10% plant protein) over the same period.
The survival of marron receiving diet D4 was significantly higher (P<0.05) than marron receiving diets D1 and D2, indicating that inclusion of protein in the
Acknowledgements
Mr. John Lang provided the farm facilities for the experiment and his help is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks to Mr. Greg Johnson for feeding the marron. The authors thank the Department of Fisheries of Western Australia and the Marron Growers Association for contributing funds to the postgraduate award. Thanks to Brenton Knot and Louis Evans for providing critical comments on the manuscript.
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