The use of corn distiller’s dried grains with solubles as a protein source in practical diets for Pacific white leg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

A two-stage growth trial using identical diets was conducted to examine the viability of partially replacing soybean meal (SBM) with corn distiller’s dried grain with solubles (DDGS) simulating the commercial growth cycle of shrimp from 1 g to 19 g body weight. In both trials, the reference diet was formulated using 25 % SBM, 8 % fish meal (FM) and 20 % poultry by-product meal (PBPM). Test diets were formulated by replacing SBM with 5 %, 10 % and 15 % of DDGS, respectively. All diets contain approximately 36 % crude protein and 7 % crude lipid. In trial 1, fifteen shrimp with average initial weight of 1.04 ± 0.04 g were stocked into 98 l aquaria tank (equivalent to 150 shrimp m-2) in a completely randomized design with ten replicates per treatment and fed with the experimental diets for 52 days. In trial 2, shrimp (5.2 ± 0.2 g) were stocked randomly into 200 L clear tanks at a density of 50 shrimp per tank (equivalent to 250 shrimp m-2) with eight replicates per treatment and fed for 84 days. The results showed growth performance of shrimp in both studies was not affected as the dietary SBM was partially replaced with DDGS. There were no significant differences observed in terms of crude protein, fat content, dry matter and ash content of the shrimp in both studies. The results from this study demonstrated that corn DDGS could be used up to 15 % in commercial feed formulations without causing any adverse effect on growth, feed conversion, nutrient utilization efficiency and whole body composition. Since the price per unit protein of corn DDGS is much cheaper than SBM, the use of corn DDGS could offer the development of sustainable and economically sound practical diets for Pacific white leg shrimp L. vannamei.