Apparent digestibility of selected feed ingredients for white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, Boone

Apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter (DM), crude protein, crude lipid, gross energy, phosphorus and amino acids in Peruvian fish meal (FM), fermented soybean meal, extruded soybean meal, soybean meal, peanut meal, wheat gluten meal, corn gluten meal, shrimp byproduct meal, meat and bone meal (MBM), poultry meat meal and plasma protein meal (PPM) were determined for white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). A reference diet (RF) and test diets (consisting of 70% RF diet and 30% of the feedstuff) were used with 0.5% chromic oxide as an external indicator. A total of 1440 shrimp (initial mean body weight 1.05 ± 0.01 g) were randomly stocked into thirty-six 500-L fibreglass tanks with 40 shrimp per tank and three tanks per diet. Faeces were collected from triplicate groups of shrimp by a faecal collection vessel attached to the shrimp-rearing tank. The shrimp were fed to apparent satiation four times a day and the feeding experiment lasted for 6 weeks. Statistics indicate that apparent DM digestibilities for white shrimp (L. vannamei) were the highest for FM, ranged 52.83-71.23% for other animal products and 69.98-77.10% for plant products. The protein and lipid from plant and animal sources were well digested by white shrimp. Apparent protein and lipid digestibility were in the range 87.89-93.18% and 91.57-95.28%, respectively, in plant products, and 75.00-92.34% and 83.72-92.79%, respectively, for animal products. The white shrimp demonstrated a high capacity to utilize phosphorus in the ingredients. The apparent phosphorus digestibility ranges of animal feedstuffs and plant feedstuffs were 58.90-71.61% and 75.77-82.30% respectively. Amino acid availability reflected protein digestibility, except that in MBM, for which the availability of some amino acid was lower, possibly due to protein damage during processing. Digestibility information could promote the use of ingredient substitution in least-cost formulated diets for white shrimp.