Manufacturing Different Diet Sizes and Its Effect on Pellet Water Stability and Growth of Three Size Classes of Pacific White Shrimp,Litopenaeus vannamei |
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| Abstract: | Abstract A feed manufacturing method involving the production of large pellets followed by crumbling to desired diet sizes was used to produce six shrimp diets to determine its effect on growth of three size classes of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. The six diets containing 45% protein were 0.7 mm crumble, 1.2 mm crumble, 1.7 mm crumble, 2.2 mm crumble, 2.6 mm crumble, and 3.0 mm pellet. These diets were fed to three size classes of shrimp subjected to a four-week growth trial under indoor laboratory conditions. Stocking density was 12 shrimp/aquarium for size class 1 (1.13iö.01 g), 9 shrimp/aquarium for size class 2 (7.31iö.06 g), and 6 shrimp/aquarium for size class 3 (13.12iö. 10 g). Shrimp were fed three times daily and were evaluated for live weight, growth rate, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and survival. Results for shrimp growth appeared to be affected by diet size and pellet water stability. The effects of diet size, however, were more evident on smaller sized shrimp. Weekly growth rates for class 1 and class 2 shrimp indicated significant responses (P < 0.05) to the effects of diet size, while the class 3 shrimp did not show any significant result. The growth rates for both class 1 and class 2 shrimp were lowest at the smallest diet size (0.7 mm crumble) but differed with respect to highest growth rates. The largest diet (3.0 mm pellets) yielded the highest growth rates for class 1 shrimp, while medium sized feed (2.2 mm crumble) produced the best growth for class 2 shrimp. This could be partly attributed to pellet water stability, which had a direct correlation to diet size (r = 0.97). Smaller diet sizes resulting from crumbling larger pellets tend to have lower water stability. The water stability decreased from 82.5% to 76.3% as the 3.0 mm pellets were reduced to 0.7 mm crumbles. Stress cracks are created during crumbling, and surface area to volume ratio are increased as larger particles are reduced to crumbles. These would make smaller diet particles more susceptible to disintegration and nutrient leaching. For class 3 shrimp, the largest pellets produced the highest growth rate. This high growth value, however, was not significantly different (P > 0.05) from growth results produced by the crumbled feed sizes. This observation suggests that diet sizes ranging from 0.7 mm crumble to 3.0 mm pellet could be used for a 13 g shrimp, although preference would be given to larger pellets due to higher growth performance and better pellet water stability. Results for shrimp live weights were similar to results obtained for weekly growth rates. FCR and survival of all shrimp sizes did not show any significant response from the effects of various diet sizes. However, larger shrimp were less efficient in their diet utilization than smaller shrimp. |
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| Keywords: | Feed size diet size shrimp size water stability growth survival white shrimp |
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