Microdiets in larviculture

Live vs Artificial Foods

Live foods are preferred b y fish larvae but have a number of di sadvantages for hatcheries Artificial hatchery feeds are devel oped as alternatives to life food especi ally due to the high cost associ ated with live foods

Disadvantages of live food

Microalgae / Rotifer / Brine Shrimp / Copepod On-site production is expensive (30-50% of hatchery operating costs) and labour intensive Specialized facilities & dedicated personnel Cultures can crash through failure of culture system

Disadvantages of live food

Rotifer / Brine Shrimp Nutritional deficiency inadequate HUFA content and requires bioenrichment Inconsistent nutritional composition dependent Reliability of supply source-

fluctuation, year to year

Disadvantages of live food

Copepod Difficult to mass cul ture, often with variable and unreliable production

Live vs Replacement diets

Research is on-going to completely replace live food. Wh y is this important?

Advantage of replacement diets

Key advantages:
Size of food particles, diet composition and feeding rates can be adjusted to suit the exact nutritional requirements of larvae Nutritional consistency Off-the shelf convenience can be stored

No specialized equipment/infrastructure required Reliability of supply

Potential replacement diets

Alternative to live algae: Dried algae (flakes or powder ) Microalgae concentrates (l iquid) Key advantage: Al gae can be cul tured at a central facility and distributed to hatcheries

Potential replacement diets

Formulated diets: Microdiets focus of research

Microencapsulated Microbound
Crumbles On-size particles MEM as an example

Complex particles (combination of both)

Microdiets (MD s)
Microbound diets (MBD s) Particulate and dissolved nutrients bound in a particle matrix consisting of a binding material such as agar Allow precise manipulation of dietary contents Potential for nutrient leaching & bacterial attack due to lack of barrier between ingredients and water Improvement: Merumerization (MEM) makes particles compact, rounded and smooth - improves stabilit y and reduces leaching

Microdiets (MD s)
Microencapsulated diets ( MED s) Enclosed within a microcapsule wall or membrane Reduced nutrient leaching and susceptibility to bacterial attack Routinely used in shri mp hatcheries but with limited success in f ish hatcheries Co-feeding in shrimp hatcheries supports superior growth and surviva l than live food alone

Microdiets (MD s)
The performance of MD s for larvae of marine fish is frequently improved when they are co-fed with Artemia. MD s supplement nutrients that are lacking in live Artemia Live Artemia may contribute exogenous digestive enzymes and other nutritional factors to help ingest, digest and assimilate MD s in the gut of larvae.

Microdiets (MD s)
Larviculture based on MD is a di fficult task due to the following: The need to provide nutrients suitable to the evol ving nutrient requirements of the larvae. The technology necessary to provide a suitably si zed, attractive and digestible f ood particle f or the larvae, has been very challenging. Marine fish larvae fed microdiets alone have not match the growth and survi val performances of larvae fed live foods

Microdiets (MD s)
Total replacement of live food with artificial diet is still not possible for the larvae of most marine fish. Up to 50 to 80% of live food can be replaced without affecting larval growth Strategy to reduce cost wean fish larvae to artificial diets at the earliest possible age.

Replacement diets - Constraints

Poor ingestion require visual stimulus of live prey to initiate capture response Poor digestion larvae Sinking low gut enzyme activity in

problems to keep in suspension

Leaching of nutrients

Replacement diets solutions

On product development:

Some

Chemicals to impart sense of motion Food dyes to si mulate colour of live prey Add hydrolysate or extract of live f ood to artificial diets to improve attractability Inclusion of digestive enzymes such as proteases to improve nutrient assimilation

Replacement diets solutions

On management

Some

Consideration to tank design and aeration Regular monitoring of feeding rates Short interval between feedings

Artificial diets - Desired characteristics

Acceptability suitable size,remain in water column and elicit feeding response f rom larvae (palatable) Stability do not break-up easily & minimal leaching nutrients easily assimilated adequate nutrients for larval

Digestibility

Nutritional composition growth Storage

suitable for long term storage: 6 -12 mths