The effect of replacement of fish meal by Spriulina platensis and chlorella vulgaris meal on growth performance, proximate composition and fatty acid profile of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

This study was conducted to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of replacement of fish meal by Spriulina platensis and chlorella vulgaris meal in Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei during 8 weeks’ period culture. Shrimp with an average weight of 2.6± 0.2 g were examined in a completely randomized design with 9 treatments included a control group (fed a diet without microalgae) and 8 treatments (fed diets containing 25, 50, 75 and 100% of Spirulina or Chlorella powder). After eight weeks of feeding trial, shrimp fed diet with 25% substitution ofC. vulgaris showed significantly improved final weight and WG compared to other treatments (P<0.05), while SGR and FCR did not show any significant differences between treatments (P>0.05). Shrimp fed diet with 100% S. platensis showed significantly higher amount of protein compared to other treatments (P<0.05). However, wasn’t found any significant differences in the amount of wet, lipid and ash between treatments (P>0.05). It was also observed that the content of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids such as alpha-linolenic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid was mostly higher in shrimp fed diet with microalgae than the control group (P<0.05). In conclusion, this study indicated that both microalgae especially in 25% chlorella could be incorporated in the diet of juvenile L. vannamei with no adverse effects on the performance of shrimp.