Abstract
Moderately starved rotifers exhibited a two-phased increase in n-3 fatty acids when they were fed a diet rich in these fatty acids. The first 20–30 min of enrichment, the increase in n-3 fatty acids was primarily due to increased gut content. The subsequent slow increase was due to an incorporation of n-3 fatty acids into rotifers tissues. Saturation was achieved before 24 h of exposure and the saturation level was independent of the initial content of n-3 fatty acids in the rotifers.
Starvation and limited feeding of the enriched rotifers for additional 4–8 h at 10–20 °C did not affect the accumulated fatty acids significantly. This was found for rotifers with high and low initial content of n-3 fatty acids. The n-3 fatty acids were assimilated with high efficiency from the feed and were not metabolized faster than other groups of fatty acids.
Enriched rotifers retained their nutritional value for a sufficient period after enrichment to serve well as live feed for marine fish larvae.
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Olsen, Y., Rodriguez Rainuzzo, J., Vadstein, O. et al. Kinetics of n-3 fatty acids in Brachionus plicatilis and changes in the food supply. Hydrobiologia 186, 409–413 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00048939
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00048939