Assessment of the fecundity,population growth and fatty acid composition of Apocyclops royi (Cyclopoida,Copepoda) fed on different microalgal diets |
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| Authors: | Y‐J Pan I Sadovskaya J‐S Hwang S Souissi |
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| Institution: | 1. Univ. Lille, CNRS, Univ. Littoral Cote d'Opale, UMR 8187, LOG Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences, Wimereux, France;2. Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan;3. Equipe BPA, USC ANSES, Université du Littoral‐C?te d'Opale, Boulogne sur Mer, France |
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| Abstract: | The brackish cyclopoid copepod Apocyclops royi is used in Taiwanese aquaculture industry as a prey for fish larvae. This study investigated the effects of seven microalgal diets, namely single‐species diets of Isochrysis galbana (ISO), Nannochloropsis oculata (NAN), and Tetraselmis chui (TET), two‐species diets (ISO+NAN, ISO+TET and TET+NAN), and a three‐species diet (ISO+NAN+TET), on the population growth, female fecundity and fatty acid composition of A. royi. For reproductive traits, the combination ISO+NAN was found to be the most supportive diet for both population growth and female fecundity. For nutritional value, copepods fed ISO and ISO+NAN were detected to have the highest content of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (18.99% and 10.73% total fatty acid, respectively) and, more importantly, a high DHA/EPA ratio (6.09 and 4.09, respectively). Additionally, a comparison of fatty acid composition between copepods and microalgae gives a tentative indication that A. royi may have the ability to synthesize long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) from short‐chain PUFA. Our findings illustrate that ISO+NAN is the most suitable microalgal diet for mass culturing A. royi because it increases productivity and enhances the nutritional value of the copepods for use as fish larvae prey. |
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| Keywords: | aquaculture copepod fatty acid composition fecundity microalgae population growth |
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