Elsevier

Aquaculture

Volume 251, Issues 2–4, 28 February 2006, Pages 472-483
Aquaculture

Effects of dietary calcium, phosphorus and calcium / phosphorus ratio on the growth and tissue mineralization of Litopenaeus vannamei reared in low-salinity water

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2005.06.022Get rights and content

Abstract

An 8-week feeding experiment was conducted to evaluate the response of juvenile Litopenaeus vannamei to dietary calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and their interaction between Ca and P in low-salinity water of 2‰. Fifteen isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets, containing five graded levels of total P (0%, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2%) for each of three levels of Ca (0%, 1% and 2%), were fed to juvenile L. vannamei. Prior to the experiment, the postlarvae were gradually acclimated to low salinity and fed a basal diet (0.5% total Ca and 0.5% total P) for 2 weeks. After 8 weeks, survival, hepatopancreas alkaline phosphatase and protein content of muscle were significantly affected by dietary P levels (P < 0.05). The weight gain (WG), ranging from 505.44% to 1187.72%, was significantly affected by dietary Ca, P and the interaction between Ca and P (P < 0.05). In the absence of supplemental Ca, diets containing 0.77% estimated available phosphorus (EAP) (0.93% total P) were adequate for optimal growth. In the presence of 1% supplemental Ca, shrimp fed diets containing 1.22% EAP (2% total P) had better growth performance. The response to dietary P supplementation was dependent on dietary Ca level. Supplementation of 2% Ca to the basal diets yielded a significant reduction in growth, indicating that dietary Ca should be reduced to minimize dietary P supplementation. The Ca, P, magnesium, zinc and manganese content in tissues responded to dietary treatment. However, there was no clear relationship between growth and tissue mineralization.

Introduction

L. vannamei reared in low salinity water is becoming an important expansion of marine shrimp culture and can be found in many regions in recent years, such as inland in America (McGraw et al., 2002), Ecuador, Thailand (Saoud et al., 2003) and China. Due to its ability to effectively maintain osmotic and ionic regulation in various saline media, L. vannamei can inhabit water with salinities ranging from 0.5‰ to 40‰ (Bray et al., 1994, Saoud et al., 2003). In low-salinity water, marine shrimp survival is affected by final acclimation salinity, water hardness, rate of salinity reduction, effect of postlarvae age (Aquacop et al., 1991, Samocha et al., 1998, McGraw et al., 2002) and the ionic composition of the water. The latter appears to be more important than the effect of salinity itself on shrimp survival and growth (Saoud et al., 2003). Mineral requirements of L. vannamei reared in low-salinity water are important for the development of economical feeds and reduction of environmental impact caused by shrimp culture.

Ca is essential for hard tissue structure, blood clotting, muscle contraction, nerve transmission, osmoregulation, and as a cofactor for enzymatic procession (Lall, 1989, Lovell, 1989) and most of aquatic species can absorb Ca directly from the surrounding condition to meet their Ca requirement (Deshimaru and Yone, 1978, Lall, 1989, Coote et al., 1996, Davis and Gatlin, 1996). Lall (1979, cited by Chavez-Sanchez et al., 2000) reviewed that dietary Ca requirement was affected by the water chemistry, species differences and dietary P levels. Several species, such as marine fish tiger puffer, giant croaker, redlip mullet and scorpion fish (Hossain and Furuichi, 1998, Hossain and Furuichi, 2000a, Hossain and Furuichi, 2000b) and freshwater fish American cichlid (Cichlasoma urophthalmus) (Chavez-Sanchez et al., 2000), blue tilapia and channel catfish (Robinson et al., 1986, Robinson et al., 1987) reared in low-Ca water, have been reported to have a dietary Ca requirement. Channel catfish has different dietary Ca requirements in waters containing different Ca content (Robinson et al., 1986). Scarpa and Gatlin (1993) noted that calcium derived solely from dietary or water was not sufficient for optimum health of channel catfish fry reared in soft water. Marsupenaeus japonicus (Kanazawa et al., 1984) and Fenneropenaeus merguiensis (Sick et al., 1972; cited by Peñaflorida, 1999) have a dietary Ca requirement of 1–2% and 0.66%, respectively. However, L. vannamei and Penaeus monodon in seawater and Metapenaeus macleayi in brackish water had no dietary Ca requirement and excessive dietary Ca could depress shrimp growth (Maguire and Hume, 1982, Davis et al., 1993, Peñaflorida, 1999).

Among the minerals required by penaeid shrimp, P is crucial because of its limited availability under rearing conditions. P is directly involved in all energy-yielding reactions and has an integral role in cellular functions, as it is a key component of nucleic acids, phospholipids, phosphoproteins, ATP and several key enzymes (Lovell, 1989). P is mainly associated with Ca in the exoskeleton. Also P is related to alkaline phosphatase (AP), which responds to acclimation salinity and is associated with osmoregulation in crustaceans (Lovett et al., 1994, Pinoni and López Mañanes, 2004). Owing to these multiple functions, disturbances in P homeostasis may cause profound effects at various metabolic levels and organ systems and a deficiency of P can be produced in most species (Lall, 1989, Lovell, 1989, Davis and Lawrence, 1997, Roy and Lall, 2003). Most marine shrimp, such as L. vannamei, M. japonicus, P. monodon, F. merguiensis, Fenneropenaeus chinensis and Farfantepenaeus aztecus, have a dietary P requirement ranging from 0.35% to 2.0% (Deshimaru and Yone, 1978, Kanazawa et al., 1984, Li et al., 1986, Davis et al., 1993, Peñaflorida, 1999). Much attention on P requirement and availability is warranted because of P pollution from practical feeds.

Other studies have suggested that dietary Ca / P ratio should be considered as well as individual dietary levels of the minerals (Li et al., 1986). Excessive dietary Ca may result in increased P requirements of shrimp, which would increase the cost of feeds and output of minerals to the rearing media, as well as inhibiting the bioavailability of other nutrients. It appeared that the optimal Ca : P ratio for several species varies, such as 1 : 1.7 for F. chinensis (Li et al., 1986), 1 : 1 for M. japonicus (Kanazawa et al., 1984) and P. monodon (Bautista and Baticados, 1990, cited by Peñaflorida, 1999), and 2.06 : 1 for Farfantepenaeus californiensis (Huner and Colvin, 1977, cited by Peñaflorida, 1999). Although poor correlation of dietary Ca : P ratio was found for L. vannamei reared in seawater, the dietary P requirement was dependent on the Ca content (Davis et al., 1993). Gallagher et al. (1978) observed that unsuitable Ca : P ratio for Homarus americanus resulted in abnormalities of the endocuticle.

In low-salinity water with low Ca content, mineral requirements of shrimp would be different from those in full strength seawater. Therefore, the objective of the present research was to determine the effects of dietary Ca, P and Ca / P ratios on growth and tissue mineralization of juvenile L. vannamei reared in low-salinity water of 2‰.

Section snippets

Shrimp culture and condition monitoring

L. vannamei postlarvae were purchased from commercial hatcheries and reared in a rectangle cement tank (3 × 3 × 2 m) with newly hatched Artemia nauplii and a commercial shrimp feed for juvenile at Yuehai Shrimp Experimental Base, Guangdong, China. The postlarvae were gradually acclimated from 28‰ to low salinity of 2‰ by adding the exposed tap water to dilute the rearing water salinity 1–2‰ daily until 2‰. After the shrimp were acclimated to low salinity of 2‰, they were fed a basal diet lacking Ca

Survival and growth

At the end of the feeding experiment, survival was significantly affected by dietary P levels (P < 0.05) with a range from 58.33% to 85.27% and the lowest survival was observed in the dietary treatments without P supplementation (Table 3). Final weight gain (WG, %) ranged from 505.44% to 1187.72% among the treatments. Two-way ANOVA showed that WG was significantly affected by dietary Ca, P and the interaction between Ca and P (P < 0.05) (Table 3). Shrimp fed diets with 0.5–2% P without Ca

Discussion

In the present study, significantly lower survival for shrimp fed diets without P supplement among the treatments showed an indication of P deficiency, suggesting that dietary P requirement was essential for L. vannamei in acclimation to low salinity media. Similar signs of reduced survival in response to suboptimal level of dietary P were found in L. vannamei reared in seawater (Davis et al., 1993, Davis and Arnold, 1998), M. japonicus (Deshimaru and Yone, 1978, Kanazawa et al., 1984) and. H.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Science Innovative Project (No. KSCX2-1-04-04) from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Key Science Project (No. A3050303) from Guangdong Province.

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