Publication Date:
2017-06-16
Description:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of a compound diet as a live prey substitute for feeding European sea bass larvae (Dicentrarchus labrax L.). The effect of a commercial diet (Nippai ML feed) and live prey (Artemia nauplii) on tryptic enzyme activity, protein content, growth (standard length) and survival rates of sea bass larvae were tested during a 27-day rearing experiment. Sea bass larvae were divided into two groups. The live food group (control group) was fed exclusively on newly hatched Artemia nauplii (Inve AF grade), the test group was fed exclusively with the compound diet from day 15 onwards. As trypsin has been demonstrated to be a useful indicator for evaluating digestibility of food and the nutritional condition of fish larvae, individual tryptic enzyme activity was determined in both feeding groups. Larvae older than 14 days after hatching and fed on live food showed a significantly higher tryptic enzyme activity than larvae fed the compound diet. A similar relationship between tryptic activity and standard length in both test groups was detected only in small larvae (standard length 〈 7 mm). The usefulness of proteolytic enzyme activity measurements in larval fish research, as well as its use in aquaculture nutrition research, was confirmed. Protein content, increase in length and survival rates of the sea bass larvae were additionally determined in order to evaluate an influence on the diet. The protein content of larvae fed the Artemia nauplii was higher and the growth of larvae fed the compound diet was reduced. Larval mortality was not affected by the diet given.
Type:
Article
,
PeerReviewed
Format:
text
DOI:
10.1046/j.1439-0426.1999.00138.x
