EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT PROTEIN CONTENT IN FORMULATED DIET ON GROWTH AND SURVIVAL OF JUVENILE RED ABALONE (Haliotis rufescens)

Diana María Cuesta-Gómez, Duahmet Abdul Ruíz-Güereca and M. del Pilar Sánchez-Saavedra*
 
Departamento de Acuicultura
Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE)
Carretera Ensenada-Tijuana 3918, Zona Playitas C.P. 22860. Ensenada, Baja California, México.
psanchez@cicese.mx .
 

The production of abalone requires enough food supply and the use of macroalgae requires a large amount of labor to harvest and storage. The proximal composition of macroalgae is low in proteins and lipids, with high carbohydrate content. The abalone during their different life stages changes their nutritional requirements. The use of formulated diets for abalone provided different nutritional value. Proteins are an expensive dietary component in abalone feed. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of different protein content in formulated diets on the growth and survival in juveniles of the red abalone (Haliotis rufescens). Red abalones of 7.05 ± 0.7 mm initial size were fed during two months with diets containing different proportions of proteins and carbohydrates (Table 1). Proximate composition of diets was measured by the conventional methods. The abalones were maintained on 18 L plastic buckets, every two days organisms were fed ad libitum and a water exchange was realized. Survival (%), feeding rate (mg/day) and specific growth rate was measured (µm/day).

After two weeks of feeding it was measured the feeding rate (FR) and the residual feed was collected in each abalone culture system. Survival of organisms was not different between diets offered. The FR was different between diets, the higher values were found in abalones fed with HP/LC (Table 2).

The SGR was significantly different between diets (Table 2).  The results showed a higher SGR in abalones fed MP-MC diet at day 15, but abalones fed with HP-LC diets had significantly higher values at day 45 and 60, while abalones fed with LP-HC diets generated low SGR.

We concluded that formulated diets do not affect survival of abalones and amounts between 20 and 30% of protein provided higher specific growth rate.