Effect of different feeding strategies on gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) demand-feeding behaviour and nutritional utilization of the diet |
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| Authors: | M VELÁZQUEZ S ZAMORA & FJ MARTÍNEZ |
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| Institution: | Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain |
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| Abstract: | We have studied the effects of time‐restricted food access and ration restriction on gilthead sea bream demand‐feeding behaviour and nutritional use of the diet (Sparus aurata), and also compared the nutritional efficiency of three different feeding systems: manual, automatic and modulated‐automatic. In the first trial, fish were allowed to feed from self‐feeders under three different conditions: ad libitum, ration restriction, and time‐restricted food access, and their demand‐feeding pattern, diet utilization and body composition were analysed. In the second trial, animals were fed by hand or using an automatic system, either fixed or modulated, and diet utilization and body composition were analysed as before. Restricting the amount of food modifies gilthead seabream self‐feeding behaviour, with fish increasing the number of demands provided these are rewarded with food. However, demand‐feeding activity does not increase if rewards are restricted to a certain time. Feeding gilthead sea bream by hand versus automatically, and distributing the daily food ration in two or three equal or unequal‐size daily meals, have no effect on the animals’ growth, nutritional use of the diet or body composition. |
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| Keywords: | automatic feeding diet nutritive utilization feeding strategy gilthead sea bream self-feeding Sparus aurata |
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