Supplementation with 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butanoic acid (HMTBa) in low fish meal diets for the white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei

Abstract

This work evaluated the performance of Litopenaeus vannamei to low fish meal diets supplemented with 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butanoic acid (HMTBa). A basal diet with 150.0gkg -1 of anchovy fish meal was designed. Two positive control diets were formulated to reduce fish meal at 50% and 100% with 1.0 and 2.0gkg -1 of MERA™ Met Ca (calcium salt with 84% HMTBa activity), respectively. Two nearly equivalent diets acted as negative controls, without HMTBa supplementation. A total of 50 clear-water tanks of 500L were stocked with 2.22±0.19g shrimp under 70animalsm -2. Shrimp survival (92.3±5.1% and 81.4±8.0%), yield (808±12 and 946±17gm -2) and FCR (2.17±0.19 and 3.12±0.37) showed no differences among diets after 72 or 96days, respectively. A significantly higher shrimp body weight and weekly growth were observed for those fed with the basal diet or diets supplemented with HMTBa compared with non-supplemented ones. This study has shown that L. vannamei growth, body weight, survival, yield and FCR were supported by HMTBa supplementation when 150.0gkg -1 of fish meal was replaced by soybean meal and other ingredients, at 50% and 100%. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.