EVALUATION OF MARINE MICROALGAE BIOMASS FOR PROTEIN REPLACEMENT IN AQUACULTURE FEEDS      

At present, commercial aquaculture feeds are highly dependent upon costly and environmentally unsustainable sources of protein and lipid, namely marine fish proteins and oils, respectively, derived from reduction fisheries. Therefore, growth rate, biomass values and biochemical composition of mono- and mixed cultures of algae from various local sources (Corpus Christi, TX) were evaluated to assess long-term potential for use as fishmeal replacement in aquaculture feeds. Biochemical composition of candidate species of algae were initially assessed as indoor small-volume cultures to determine those species/strains with potential for use. Additionally, all cultures were inspected daily for temperature, salinity, and contamination (e.g., undesired phytoplankton, zooplankton, etc.) and cell counts recorded daily (c/mL) using a Neubauer hemocytometer. Selected strains/mixes were then subjected to larger-volume and longer-term outdoor culture trials in which performance and biochemical composition were used to evaluate potential for year-round production.

Independent variables for algal selection objectives will be tested for normality prior to running MANOVA (α = 0.05) and linear regression analyses. A SNK multiple range test will be used to determine differences (α = 0.05) among treatment means for all objectives.