Growth Performance and Food Conversion Efficiency of Juvenile Russian Sturgeon at Different Feeding Frequencies

Abstract

The effects of different feeding frequencies (one, two, three and four meals per day) on growth performance and feed conversion efficiency of Russian sturgeon juveniles (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) was studied over a period of 45 days. The experiment took place in a recirculating aquaculture system provided with eight rearing units. 160 Russian sturgeon juveniles with an initial weight of 349.81±34.56 g, were randomly distributed, in order to create four experimental variants in duplicate. At the end of the experiment all fish were weight and measured and the growth parameters were calculated. The results indicated that fish fed twice and once per day had the highest growth performance compared to fish feed with three and four meals/day. It was concluded that choosing a feeding frequency of two meals per day is much more sustainable in terms of economic costs.