Compensatory Growth of Pond‐reared Hybrid Striped Bass, Morone chrysops × Morone saxatilis, Fingerlings

Abstract

Compensatory growth (CG) or “catch‐up growth” is a period of super‐accelerated growth following a period of suboptimal conditions (i.e., lack of prey availability or overwintering). Little is known about the CG response in pond‐raised fish and whether hybrid striped bass (HSB), Morone chrysops × Morone saxatilis, might exhibit the rapid growth states or improvements in other production characteristics that may accompany the response. To evaluate the potential for CG in HSB culture, a 16‐wk growth trial in twelve 0.1‐ha earthen ponds was conducted. Approximately 2850 fish (mean weight ± SD = 3.2 g ± 1.1) were stocked into ponds and subjected to one of four cyclic feeding regimens. Treatment regimens included a control (0 wk, fed twice daily to apparent satiation) and cycles of 1, 2, or 4 wk of feed deprivation, followed by 1, 2, or 4 wk of feeding to apparent satiation. Fish in the 4‐wk feeding regimen were offered feed twice during the feed‐deprivation period (once every other week). Growth, specific growth rate (SGR), hepatosomatic index (HSI), intraperitoneal fat ratio, and condition factor (CF) were measured every other week, while overall growth, feed efficiency (FE) (FE = [weight gain/feed fed] × 100), and survival were calculated at the trial termination. The effect of these feeding regimens on water quality was examined by monitoring pH, turbidity, total ammonia nitrogen, nitrite–nitrogen, nitrate–nitrogen, soluble reactive phosphorus, and chlorophyll a weekly; total nitrogen and phosphorous biweekly; and dissolved oxygen and temperature twice daily. Cyclic feeding elicited CG; fish subjected to the 2‐wk regimen had a significantly higher SGR than 0‐wk controls during all but the final refeeding period. FE was higher for all fish in the cyclic regimens, although only FE for fish in the 2‐wk regimen was statistically greater (40%) than the controls. HSI was the most responsive measure and significantly decreased in the 2‐ and 4‐wk treatments during feed‐deprivation period and overcompensated during the refeeding period. CF also varied with feeding cycle and proved to be an effective nonlethal measure of predicting a CG response. No statistical differences in water quality parameters were observed. These data suggest that CG can be effectively induced in pond‐raised HSB and that the increase in FE warrants further research for practical application. Future pond studies with fingerling HSB fish should be conducted with emphasis on feed‐deprivation periods of 2 wk and refeeding periods of at least twice that of the feed‐deprivation period.

Insight into The Role of Alternative Starvation-Refeeding Regime in Oreochromis niloticus Fingerlings Performance

“…Some similar partial compensation results have been obtained in previous studies carried out on different fish species and feeding models (Jobling, 1993;Hayward et al, 2000;Ali and Jauncey, 2004;Wang et al, 2005Wang et al, , 2009Eroldoğan et al, 2006Eroldoğan et al, , 2008Mattila et al, 2009;Liu et al, 2011). Additionally, full compensation (Kim and Lovell, 1995;Gaylord and Gatlin, 2001;Zhu et al, 2001Zhu et al, , 2005Qin, 2003, 2004;Nikki et al, 2004;Oh et al, 2007) and over compensation levels have also been obtained (Hayward et al, 1997;Turano et al, 2007). Yarmohammadi et al, (2015) Findings showed that the juvenile Persian sturgeon starved for 1,2, and 4 weeks showed complete compensatory growth while fish starved for 3 weeks showed partial compensatory growth.…”

Compensatory growth of Malaysian prawns reared at high densities during the nursery phase

“…Gaylord and Gatlin (2000) evaluated the compensatory growth in channel catfish Ictalarus punctatus starved for 4 weeks and observed that after 8 weeks of refeeding, total increase in body weight was similar to that of control group. Similar studies was conducted with rainbow trouts (Nikki et al, 2004), hybrid striped bass (Turano et al, 2007), red sea bream (Oh et al, 2007) and hybrid tilapia (Wang et al, 2000). Some authors postulated that the increase of growth rate may be a function of a hyperphagic response to the period of feed deprivation, with increases in appetite (Russel and Wootton, 1992;Nicieza and Metcalfe, 1997).…”

“…Compensatory growth has been referred by many authors as a phase of rapid growth when favorable conditions are restored following a period of growth depression, occasioned by suboptimal conditions just as feed deprivation (Turano et al, 2007), low temperature (Nicieza & Metcalfe, 1997), hypoxic conditions (Foss & Imsland, 2002) and exposure to toxic compounds (El Ghazali et al, 2009) among others. Compensatory growth has been reported in a large range of aquatic animals, such as rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) (Nikki et al, 2004), Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) (Nicieza & Metcalfe, 1997), channel catfish (Ictalarus punctatusi) (Menghe et al, 2005), Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) (Hurst et al, 2005) and Chinese shrimp, (Fenneropenaeus chinensis) (Wei et al, 2008).…”

Regulation of endocrine and paracrine sources of Igfs and Gh receptor during compensatory growth in hybrid striped bass (Morone chrysops×Morone saxatilis)

“…In those species where CG has been demonstrated, either partial or full catch-up growth was induced in Atlantic halibut (Heide et al 2006), channel catfish (Gaylord & Gatlin 2000), European sea bass (Terova et al 2006), hybrid sunfish (Hayward et al 1997), and rainbow trout (Montserrat et al 2007) through variations of this protocol. In HSB, partial feed restriction has led to full compensation in individually housed fish (Skalski et al 2005), along with partial CG in grouphoused HSB in both ponds (Turano et al 2007) and tanks .…”

“…In previous studies, we found that a combination of low HSI (!1 . 5) and body weight loss are necessary to induce subsequent CG responses , Turano et al 2007). In the current study, both of these conditions were met following feed restriction (7 .…”