Effects of feeding rate on
growth performance of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) larvae
Dong-Fang Deng, Shunsuke Koshio, Saichiro Yokoyama,
Sungchul C. Bai, Qingjun Shao, Yibo Cui, S.S.O. Hung-2002
Aquaculture, 217(1-4): 589-598
Abstract:
Four 1-week trials were conducted to determine the
effects of feeding rates on growth performance and body proximate
composition of white sturgeon larvae during each of the first 4 weeks after
initiation of feeding. Feeding rates (% body weight day-1) were
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 for trial I; 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 for trial
II; and 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.5, 12.5, and 15.0 for trials III and IV. Four
tanks with 200 larvae each were randomly assigned to each of the six feeding
rates. Average initial body weights of the larvae were 49, 94, 180, and 366
mg, respectively, for trials I–IV. The larvae were kept at 19–20 °C in
circular tanks and fed continuously one of two commercial salmonid
soft-moist feeds using automatic feeders. Proximate composition (%) of the
feeds for trials I–III and IV were 13.9 and 14.9 moisture, 52.5 and 50.0
crude protein, 10.3 and 12.9 crude fat, and 8.1 and 8.7 ash, respectively.
Except mortality in trial I, gain per food fed in trial III, and body ash in
all trials, growth performance and body composition were significantly (P<0.05)
affected by all feeding rates. Broken line analysis on specific growth rates
indicated the optimum feeding rates of white sturgeon larvae to be 26%, 13%,
11%, and 6% body weight day-1, respectively, for weeks 1, 2, 3,
and 4 after initiation of feeding.
(Department
of Animal Science, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA
95616-8521, USA, e-mail address of S.O. Hung: sshung@ucdavis.edu)