Fish meal replacement with rice protein concentrate in a practical diet for the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei Boone, 1931

Replacement of fish meal (FM) with rice protein concentrate (RPC) as a practical diet for the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, was evaluated. Five isonitrogenous (36.6% protein) diets, formulated by replacing 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% of FM by RPC, were fed to shrimp (initial weight of 6.99 +/- A 0.08 g) five times daily to satiation for 60 days. Relatively high final weight (FW 17.64-18.25 g) and weight gain (WG 10.81-11.39 g) were obtained in treatments up to 50% of the plant protein inclusion. Above this inclusion level, FW (14.93-14.35 g) and WG (7.68-7.23 g) were reduced. Survival was high (a parts per thousand yen95%) and similar for all diets. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in tail-muscle composition (moisture, protein, lipid, and ash) among different dietary treatments. Dispensable and indispensable amino acids of the tail muscle of shrimp fed with 25, 50, and 75% RPC were significantly higher than the FM (0%) and 100% RPC diets. A decreasing trend in apparent digestibility coefficient (excluding dry matter) for crude protein (90.52-52.41), ether extract (94.11-80.03), organic matter (87.25-50.16), and gross energy (89.41-55.24) was observed at higher RPC inclusion rates. The results suggest that RPC meal can be a potential candidate for FM replacement up to 50% of the protein in shrimp diets.