An assessment of the efficacy of two lysine microencapsulation techniques to determine the quantitative lysine requirement of the South African abalone, Haliotis midae L.

The quantification of the essential amino acid requirements of a species is a prerequisite to the formulation of biologically optimized diets. In this study, crystalline L-lysine was used in an attempt to determine the quantitative lysine requirement of juvenile Haliotis midae . Two microencapsulation techniques [gelatine/acacia and cellulose acetate phthalate (CAP)] were used to retard leaching of crystalline L-lysine incorporated into semipurified test diets. An assessment of the efficacy of the encapsulation techniques, revealed that despite effective lysine supplementation, H. midae fed semipurified test diets containing encapsulated crystalline L-lysine failed to promote significant improvements in either growth, feed or protein efficiency (P > 0.05). The failure of the crystalline L-lysine to illicit growth and nutritional responses is discussed.