Effect of Spirulina platensis meal as feed additive on growth, survival and development in Litopenaeus schmitti shimp larvae

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of Spirulina platensis inclusion in microdiets for white shrimp Litopenaeus schmitti larvae, a completely randomized experimental design was developed with 4 treatments and three replicates. Diets with 3 inclusion levels (0, 2.5 and 5%) were prepared. A control was fed Artemia nauplii. Larvae were fed for 120 hours from mysis I to postlavae 1 every 4 h, and water quality parameters were measured daily. At the end of the experiment survival was determined, and the development index of the larvae was calculated. The chemical score of the diet was also determined, using the L. schmitti postlarvae amino-acid pattern as reference. Triptophan and hystidine were the first and second limiting amino acids in the diets. Survival was around 80% for all treatments. When compared to the control, final postlarval size was significantly smaller. However, the development index (DI) showed that larvae fed diets containing 5% Spirulina platensis meal was superior to the rest of the diets and similar to the Artemia nauplii (p<0.05).