Chemical Composition and Digestibility of Three Mexican Safflower Meals Used as Ingredients in Diets for Whiteleg Shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei

Abstract

The nutritional value of three safflower, Carthamus tinctorius, meals used as ingredients in diets for Litopenaeus vannamei was determined in terms of chemical composition and in vivo and in vitro digestibility. Three safflower meals were used: a whole safflower meal (WSM; 20.6% crude protein and 34.6% lipids) prepared in our laboratory; a low‐protein safflower meal (LPSM; 27.5% crude protein and 1.8% lipids) and a high‐protein safflower meal (HPSM; 36.7% crude protein and 1.0 lipids), both produced at commercial scale. The most abundant essential amino acid in safflower meals was arginine, while lysine and methionine were the least abundant; the most important fatty acids were oleic, linoleic, palmitic, and stearic acids. Apparent protein digestibility of HPSM (89.4%) and LPSM (87.6%) meals were significantly higher than that of WSM (72.3%). Lipid digestibility of WSM (93.7%) was higher than that of the defatted meals (LPSM 76.1% and HPSM 60.7%). Carbohydrate digestibility was very high (>96.8%) in all safflower meals. In vitro pH‐stat protein digestibility and in vivo protein digestibility were significantly correlated. LPSM and HPSM have chemical compositions and digestibilities more suitable to be used as ingredients for shrimp feeds, especially HPSM, which could be used as source of digestible protein and carbohydrates.