Freshwater microalgae (Schizochytrium sp.) as a substitute to fish oil for shrimp feed

Micro-algae, Schizochytrium sp., is rich source of docosahexaenoic acid, DHA (66%-lipid with 27%DHA). Eight nutritionally balanced-diets were formulated: diet 1 (control) consisted of only fish oil (FO); diets 2 and 3 had increasing amounts of algae-meal and soybean oil (SBO) at the expense of FO; diet 4 consisted of a combination of algae meal (37-g/kg), SBO (21-g/kg), and linseed oil (LSO) at 4-g/kg each; diet 5 had microalgae meal at 50-g/kg and equal amounts of LSO and SBO at 8-g/kg; diets 6 and 7 contained equal amounts of algae-meal at 62-g/kg, but with LSO or SBO added at 8-mg/g, respectively; diet 8 contained only algae-meal at 75-mg/g. Growth and feeding efficiencies of L. vannamei were not significantly different among treatments. Fatty acid composition of muscle generally reflected that of the diet. The amount of muscle sub-epidermal adipose tissue was significantly higher for shrimp fed diets 3 and 7, while intestinal lipase was significantly higher in shrimp fed diets 7 and 8. Muscle lipid peroxidation was unaffected by the dietary treatments, although antioxidant activities were significantly higher in shrimp fed diet 7 compared to those fed diet 1. Overall algal-meal can completely replace the FO in shrimp feed.