Growth response of juvenile crayfish of the red claw craifish, Cherax quadricarinatus, following different types of intermitent feeding

STUMPF, L; CALVO, N.S; LOPEZ GRECO L.S.

Veracruz, México

Congreso; World Aquaculture 2009; 2009

World Aquaculture society

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0cm; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:TH;} @page Section1 {size:21.0cm 842.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.3pt; mso-footer-margin:35.3pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} @page Section2 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section2 {page:Section2;} --> An important approach for reducing food costs in aquaculture is to develop a proper feeding management. One potential way is to take advantage of the compensatory growth, which has been widely reported in fish but scarcely studied in crustaceans. An appropriate use of compensatory growth may result in enhanced growth, more efficient food utilization and better water quality.     The effect of different cycles of starvation and re-feeding were studied by evaluating weight gain and survival. Four treatments of intermittent feeding with different days of food restrictions named ±1 (1 day fed/1 day no fed), ±2 (2 days fed/2 days no fed), ±3 (3 days fed/3 days no fed) and ± 4 (4 days fed/ 4 days no fed) were applied to stage III juveniles of Cherax quadricarinatus. Two control groups: continuous starvation (CS) and continuous feeding (CF) were also run. After molting to stage juvenile IV all juveniles were continuously fed up to the end of the experiment (45 days) to evaluate the possible effect of compensatory growth. There were not differences (p>0.05) in growth during the period of food restriction (Table 1). The CS treatment produced the death of all juveniles between 11 and 14 days from the beginning of the assay and no molts were recorded. In the other treatments, after molting to juvenile IV, no differences (p>0.05) were observed in growth and survival at 30 and 45 days of treatment (Table 2). Juveniles from ±1 treatment died before 30 days. Although the time of evaluation (45 days) is relatively short, these first results would indicate that is possible to apply a protocol of intermittent feeding (with a period equal or bigger than 2 days) in juveniles of stage III obtaining similar growth and survival than during continuous feeding. This would make possible, at first, the reduction in the quantity of food given to early juveniles diminishing the costs of production and improving water quality.