Potential of using tropical brown macroalgae <i>sargassum cristaefolium</i> meal in the diets for juvenile white shrimp (<i>litopenaeus vannamei</i>)

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of different dietary levels of&#13;\ntropical marine brown macroalgae, Sargassum cristaefolium meal (SCM) on growth&#13;\nperformance and feed utilization efficiency of juvenile white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei&#13;\n(mean initial weight 2.65±0.1 g). The algae were collected from Bandengan Coast, Jepara,&#13;\nIndonesia. The study used a completely randomized design with 5 treatments of dietary&#13;\ndifferent S. cristaefolium meal levels (0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 g algae meal/kg feed) in triplicates.&#13;\nThe results showed that the different levels of dietary SCM did not significantly affect&#13;\n(P&gt;0.05) average daily growth (ADG;.204-224 mg/day) and survival (80-97%) of the shrimp&#13;\nafter a 42-day feeding period. However, the test diets significantly affected (P&lt;0.05) feed&#13;\nintake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and protein efficiency ratio (PER). Better FCR (2.13)&#13;\nand PER (1.34) was found by the diet with 2% SCM compared to the control diet (no SCM)&#13;\n(FCR 3.42 and PER 0.81). This finding indicates that the supplement of dietary 2% SCM (20&#13;\ng/ kg feed) can increase the feed utilization efficiency up to 62% or reduce the FCR up to 38%&#13;\nwithout any adverse in growth performance.