Mussel meal as a potential ingredient in diets for the whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)

The global aquaculture production is growing immensely in all aspects and has already surpassed the output from wild caught fish and shellfish industries. The farming of Litopenaeus vannamei is one of the biggest contributors to this market. Originally, L. vannamei is native to the tropical marine habitats, but due the high value, farming of these species expanded to the subtropical areas. Therefore, low temperatures have become one of the major constraining factors to the L. vannamei culture. Besides this, concerns about the sustainability of this industry lead to the search for new, healthy and sustainable ingredients for aquafeeds, like bivalves, due to their nutritional value and low trophic level. In this experiment, mussel meal (species Perna perna) was evaluated as a potential ingredient in L. vannamei diets to improve growth and cold resistance of the shrimp. Five experimental diets (0%, 1%, 2%, 3% and 4% of mussel meal inclusion) were evaluated for 8 weeks in twenty polyethylene tanks of 400 liter (n = 4). Each tank was stocked with 40 shrimps (3.5 ± 0.5 g), filled with sea water and kept under constant aeration and temperature of 28.4 ± 0.4 °C. Every day 100% of the water was exchanged to maintain the water quality. After 8 weeks of experiment a thermal shock treatment was performed to analyse the cold resistance of the shrimp. Shrimps that were fed with the 1% and 2% mussel meal diets had a significantly higher final weight, weekly weight gain and lower FCR than the control, 3% and 4% mussel meal treatments. The shrimps fed with the 2% mussel meal diet had the best growth results. Further, no differences were observed in thermal shock resistance and survival among the treatments. In conclusion, mussel meal can be used as a potential ingredient in whiteleg shrimp diets.