Survival, growth, and biomass of brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana) fed with spirulina powder and soybean flour

Abstract

Currently, on-grown Artemia is widely needed as live food in aquaculture, especially for ornamental fish. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the survival, growth and biomass of Artemia fed with spirulina powder and soybean flour. The Artemia cyst used in this study was Artemia franciscana obtained from the commercial brand Golden West Artemia (Great Salt Lake Artemia). The study was conducted by completely randomized design with three feeding treatments: 100% spirulina powder (S-100%), 100% soybean flour (SB-100%), and 50% spirulina powder + 50% soybean flour (S-50%+SB-50%). The results show that survival, body length and biomass of Artemia were very significantly affected by different feeding. The highest survival rate was obtained by feeding with S-100% (25.07±1.43%), while feeding with SB-100% (19.09±1.36%) and S-50% + SB-50% (19.49±2.03%) were not significantly different. The average body lengths of Artemia measured were 9.00±0.15 mm (S-100%), 7.24±0.44 mm (SB-100%), and 8.89±0.44 mm (S-50% + SB-50%), respectively. The highest production of Artemia biomass was by feeding S-100% (17,667±0.322 g), followed by S-50%+SB-50% (13,622±2,183 g), and SB -100% (10.858±1.428 g). Thus, spirulina powder is a very suitable feed for ongrown Artemia production.