Dietary Lipid Requirements for Optimal Egg Quality of Redclaw Crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus

Abstract

The effect of three crude dietary lipid levels (4, 8, and 12%) on egg quality of the female redclaw crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus, was evaluated. Three replicate groups of 40 crayfish (mean initial weight ± SD, 23.0 ± 3.0 g) per diet treatment were stocked in 15,000 ‐L tanks, at 28 C. After 75 d of culture, there were significant differences (P < 0.001) in egg area (3.52–3.90 mm2), volume (34.0–39.3 mm3), weight (4.81–5.36 mg), and diameter (2.15–2.27 mm) in response to dietary lipids in the diet. Using the quadratic equation, the maximum responses of these parameters corresponded to lipid levels from 8.60–8.84%. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in survival (82.1–86.9%), final weight (41.0–43.7 g), number of spawning females (18.12–27.38%), and fecundity (9.07–10.31 eggs/g female). Additionally, there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in egg mean protein (2306.87 ± 440.08 μg/egg), lipid (441.95 ± 83.23 μg/egg) and carbohydrate (74.81 ± 10.12 μg/egg) contents, and energy (13.49 ± 2.25 kcal/egg). The optimum overall response was obtained for dietary lipid content of 8.7%, which we recommend to optimize egg quality of this freshwater crayfish.

Effects of different dietary lipids concentrations on the egg production and egg quality produced by Macrobrachium acanthurus females

“…In the other hand, several parameters have been used to determine the egg quality of the crustaceans (Rodríguez-González et al, 2009) and we decided to use the volume and contents of protein and lipid, as seems to be the most commonly used parameters. Despite the dietary lipid inclusion, egg volume did not show differences among the treatments and values were similar to those reported for wild females of M. acanthurus (Mejía-Ortiz et al, 2001;Tamburus et al, 2012) and females fed on different sources of lipids (Villafuerte et al, 2016).…”

“…Notably, the females require mobilizing the nutrients from the hepatopancreas to the ovaries, deposit them into the eggs (Rodríguez-González et al, 2009) and allow the healthy development of embryos and early larvae survival (Wouters et al, 2001). Unbalance or incomplete diets might cause poor reproductive performances or even stop animals from reproducing (Bray & Lawrence, 1992).…”

Effect of different dietary lipid sources on growth and gonad maturation of pre-adult female Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens)

“…In China, red claws are often fed commercial prawn feeds, such as Litopenaeus vannamei commercial pellets, which despite their high price fail to meet the nutritional demands of the red claw. Feed is often one of highest costs in an aquaculture enterprise, and though diets that promote red claw growth is of growing interest to producers, little attention has been placed on developing adequate diets for maturing broodstock (Martinez‐Cordova et al 2003; Cortes‐Jacinto et al 2005; Rodríguez‐González et al 2009). Thus, nutritionally tailored and economical feed formulations are needed for red claws in aquaculture.…”

“…Meeting the nutritional demands of crayfish broodstock is crucial for reproductive success (Rodríguez‐González et al 2009). While several previous studies have focused on protein requirements for growth and reproduction and the effects of protein diet substitutions in red claws (Cortés‐Jacinto et al 2003, 2004; Rodríguez‐González et al 2006), information concerning lipid and fatty acid requirements during growth, especially on spawning is limited.…”

Effect of protein and lipid levels in diets for female red claw crayfishCherax quadricarinatuson quality of offspring (juvenile), with emphasis on growth performance, biochemical composition and stress resistance to low oxygen, high ammonia and salinity

“…The lack of differences in biochemical composition of juveniles at different protein and lipid levels of broodstock diets may be a consequence of the tendency of females to spawn after a balanced and uniform biochemical composition of eggs are obtained (Rodríguez‐González et al . ).…”