Growth, body composition and antioxidant status ofLitopenaeus vannameijuveniles reared at different stocking densities in the biofloc system using inland saline groundwater

Abstract

Growth, body composition and antioxidant status of Litopenaeus vannamei under zero water exchange biofloc-based culture system using inland saline groundwater (ISGW) were evaluated during the 60-day culture period in four varying stocking densities of 60 (T1), 100 (T2), 140 (T3) and 180 (T4) juvenile shrimps m−3. The carbon : nitrogen ratio was maintained at 15:1 using sugarcane molasses. Shrimp in the BFT treatments performed significantly better (P < 0.05) than control in terms of survival (98%-100%), weight gain (10.83 to 7.68g), feed conversion ratio (1.19 to 1.30) and feed efficiency ratio (0.88–0.84) at the end of the experimental period. Higher level of crude protein (29.1% to 33.0%), lipid (5.0% to 5.6%) and ash (1.4% to 1.6%) content was observed in the tissues of the shrimps from the BFT treatments when compared to control. Antioxidant enzyme activities such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in gills, hepatopancreas and muscle were higher in the BFT treatments than in the control. These results indicate that microbial protein from recycled waste functions as nutrient, growth promoter and antioxidant capacity stimulator in shrimp reared in BFT using ISGW.