The brown sea weed Sargassum illicifolium is abundant along the Iranian coastline of the Oman Sea in which is rich in nutrients. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis which it can be used as a source of protein in shrimp diets. The experiment was conducted in a laboratory, 2013, where 3g shrimp juvenile acclimation in a 5000L tank.They were then kept in plastic tank containing 300L sea water and 30 shrimp juveniles in which were fed daily (3% of biomass) in four equal portions with one of four different diets in four repetitions for a period of 45 days. All diets contained 33% crude protein (isoprotein) and 355 kcal 100 g-1 (isocaloric), with different percentages of Sargassum powder: Diet “A” 15%; Diet “B” 10%, Diet “C” 5%, and Diet “D” (Control) without seaweed. Final biomass values ranged from 120.89 to 128.66 g. L-1; weight gains in biomass ranged from 106.49 to 124.36 g L-1, and SGR ranged from 4.68 to 5.68% exhibited no significant differences between treatments (p>.05). Survival rate 95.2 to 97.0% was almost equal under the four experimental conditions (p>.05). Diets “A” and “B”, with a greater content of algae, exhibited better feed conversion (1.15: 1 and 1.17: 1) than diets “C” and “D” (1.30: 1 and 1.33: 1) (p<.05). The physicochemical variables of the water showed no significant variation and remained within the standards necessary for the wellbeing of the animals. If sufficient biomass of beached algae can be practically and economically collected, it can be used as a component in the making of shrimp feed.

The present study was carried out in order to establish an economical effective diet for the pacific white shrimp in the southern part conditions of Iran. Three dietary energy levels (E1=262, E2=312, E3=362 Kcal 100 g-1 diet) and 6 ratios of fish meal (FM): soybean meal (SBM) [(P1= 100% FM+ 0% SBM), (P2= 80% FM+ 20% SBM),(P3= 60% FM+ 40% SBM), (P4= 40% FM+ 60% SBM), (P5= 20% FM+ 80% SBM),(P6= 0% FM+ 100% SBM)], 18 experimental diets were prepared. Completely randomized design was used to assign 54 polyethylene 300 litre round tanks provided by aeration and was stocked by 19 juvenile shrimp as 3 replicates to each treatment. Shrimps average weight was about 0.77 g at the start. After 56 days culture period, maximum growth and nutritional performance were observed in the P6E1 and P5E1 treatments. In addition, the highest survival rate of the shrimps was observed in the P1E1, P1E2, P3E3 and P5E3 treatments. Results indicated that protein, fat, fiber and ash contents of carcase were significantly affected by the treatments (P<0.05). Results of the present study suggest the replacement possibility of at least 80% of dietary fishmeal by soybean meal in the diet of pacific white shrimp in the conditions of southern part of Iran.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the potential of black cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus) meal (BCM) as an alternative protein source in the practical diets for the whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei juveniles. Six dietary treatments with different levels of BCM at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% (namely BCM 0– BCM 50, respectively) were prepared, and each diet was fed to triplicate tanks of L. vannamei juveniles (initial body weight 0. 73± 0. 01 g) for 40 days. At the end of the experiment, shrimps fed the BCM-included diets (BCM10, 20, 30, 40 or 50) generally attained the higher weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), survival percentage, and the better feed conversion ratio (FCR) than that fed the control diet (BCM0). Nevertheless, the shrimps fed BCM50 attained the highest WG (1124. 6%), SGR (2. 71%/ day), survival percentage (88. 3%), and the best FCR value (1. 83) among the BCM-included dietary treatments, and these results were significantly higher (p<0. 05) than those from the control group. In conclusion, the BCM protein can replace 50% of fish meal protein in the practical diets for L. vannamei juveniles without any adverse effects on the shrimp growth performance and survival.

This study was conducted to determine the apparent digestibility of tThis study was conducted to determine the apparent digestibility of the dry matter, curde protein and gross energy of soybean meal by juvenile P. indicus in Iran. A complete randomized design with four experimental diets, three replicates, and four groups of 100 shrimps (mean initial weight 7.1 ± 1.11g) per tank were employed in this study. The pellet diets (A, B, C and D) were formulated based on a refrence diet containing 1% Cr2O3 and were containing 0%, 15% 20% and 25% soybean meal and 100%, 85%, 80% and 75% refrence diet, respectively. The shrimps were kept in tanks with 1000 liters water, and the temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and water exchange of the tanks were 31±0.78?C, 30±1.2 ppt, 7.5-8, 5.8±0.4 ppm and 160% per day, respectively. Sea water through a sand-passed, and two cartidge filters with 25 and 50 micrometers in diameter. The shrimps were acclimated to the one of the four diets for 8-days and a 6-days period for faecal collection. The average apparent dry matter digestibility (ADMD) of A, B, C and D diets were 78.67±3.03%, 76.15±1.79%, 74.73±0.88, and 73±1.2%. The average apparent gross energy digestibility (GED) were 87.63±1.1%, 85.93±0.86%, 85.16±0.9%, and 83.87±1.7% and the average apparent organic matter digestibility (AOMD) were 82.36±2.31%, 81.65±1.94%, 80.03±0.72% and 78.5±1.56%, respectively. The differences between means were significant (P<0.05). The average apparent digestibility of crude protein (APD) of the A, B, C and D diets were 85.92±1.814%, 85.59±1.168%, 85.69±0.556%, and 85.02±0.684%, the averages of apparent lipid digestibility (ALD) were 97.41±0.78%, 96.6±0.77%, 96.27±1.37% and 95.26±0.09%. The averages of apparent digestibility of N.F.E* were 87.67±4.31%, 86.58±3.86%, 82.61±0.99% and 79.42±3.57%. The correlation between ADMD and APD was not significant but between GED and ADMD (r=0.98) and between GED and AOMD (r=0.99) was significant (P<0.01). Total digestible nutrients (TDN) of the A, B, C, and D diets were 80.74%, 80.29%, 87.74%, and 76.98%, respectively. The ADMD, APD, GED, ALD, NFE digestibility, AOMD and TDN of soybean meal were estimated to be 69.36%, 85.56%, 81.52%, 93.07%, 72.05%, 70.56% and 76.63%, respectively.