Dietary krill meal inclusion contributes to better growth performance of gilthead seabream juveniles

Abstract

There is a need to find sustainable alternatives to fishmeal (FM) and fish oil (FO) in feed formulations to support the continued growth of aquaculture. FM is mostly produced from mass-caught pelagic species, but the production has been relatively constant for several decades. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of dietary krill meal (KM) inclusion as a sustainable alternative to FM. In view of that, a feeding trial with gilthead seabream juveniles was conducted to evaluate whether dietary KM at 3%, 6% and 9% inclusion improves growth performance in comparison with a control diet. At the end of the study, fish in the 9% KM group showed significantly higher body weight (32.76 g) compared with fish fed the control diet (30.30 g). Moreover, FM replacement by 9% KM indicated a reduction in the accumulation of lipid droplets in the hepatocytes and around the pancreatic islets. In summary, this study suggests that FM can be reduced in diets for seabream without negatively affecting growth performance, when KM is added. On the contrary, KM enhances gilthead seabream growth and reduces lipid accumulation and damage of hepatocytes, which will open an interesting innovation line to completely replace FM by alternative terrestrial protein sources and the partial inclusion of KM. K E Y W O R D Sfishmeal replacement, growth performance, krill meal, seabream juvenile

Evaluation of Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba ) meal supplementation in diets for olive flounder ( Paralichthys olivaceus )

“…According to the results of the present study, partial inclusion of KM seemed to improve the growth performance and feed utilization of olive flounder confirming earlier investigations on dietary KM supplementation for other fish species (Gaber, 2005;Hansen et al, 2011;Olsen et al, 2006;Saleh et al, 2018;Suontama, Karlsen, et al, 2007;Suontama, Kiessling, Melle, Waagbø, & Olsen, 2007;Tibbetts et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2019). The improved FIs of the KM3, KM6 and KM9 groups compared to the LFM group may be a result of feed attractant properties of KM, which led to higher appetite as described by Kolkovski, Czesny, and Dabrowski, (2000).…”

“…Tibbetts, Olsen, and Lall, (2011) reported that moderate FM replacement (25%-50%) with freeze-dried KM was able to obtain significant improvements in FI and growth performance in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and Atlantic halibut. In juvenile gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), 9% KM inclusion in diets performed significantly better in growth and feed conversion ratio (FCR; Saleh et al, 2018).…”

Fishmeal replacement by periphyton reduces the fish in fish out ratio and alimentation cost in gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata

“…The use of animal meal such as krill or meat and bone meals for fishmeal replacement was efficient in improving fish growth performance and FCR but none resulted in a FIFO index below 1. In fact, in the case of diets with krill meal, this index was even higher than in the original diet (1.3 vs. 1.2), since both fish- and krill-meal in the experimental diet were included in the calculation of the fish-in value, which was 25% as compared to only 20% in the control diet with fishmeal alone 52 . A FIFO index below 1, as was measured in the experimental diets tested in the current study (0.5–0.9), was obtained only in studies in which fishmeal was totally removed from diet, with the sole exception of one diet using a plant protein mixture 7 .…”

Incorporation of Rapa Whelk (Rapana venosa) meal in diets for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fry

“…Various stimulants and attractants are widely applied to contribute this feature to feeds, particularly in scientific studies where vegetable protein sources are used as alternatives in fish feeds (Al‐Souti et al., 2019). For instance, it is stated that krill meal is used as a chemoattractant in shrimp diets (Saleh et al., 2018), fish silage in white pacific shrimp diets, whereas amino acids such as alanine, hydroxyproline, phenylalanine, leucine, partially proline and nucleotides are considered as chemoattractants for rainbow trout (Kohbara & Caprio, 2001; Marui et al., 1983). In this study, it is presumed that the reason for fish not to prefer snail meal‐based diets as compared to the control diet depends upon a different reason, considering all the amino acids that are recognized to be attractive for rainbow trout were present in the feed above the minimum requirements for the fish.…”