Temperature-Dependent Growth Models for South Dakota Yellow Perch,Perca flavescens,Fingerling Production

Abstract

Temperature-dependent growth models were developed for juvenile yellow perch, Perca flavescens (Mitchell), in eastern South Dakota. Age-0 yellow perch were held in a circular culture tank for two months and trained to accept a pelleted diet. Five temperature treatments (16, 19, 22, 25, and 28°C) were randomly assigned in triplicate to 15, 38-L tanks containing 10 fish averaging 84±0.4 mm total length and 7.4±0.1g. Instantaneous growth rates (biweekly) for weight were highest for the 25°C treatment and lowest for the 16°C treatment. Mean length increases for the 84-day trial were 16.6, 33.3,41.1,45.1, and 40.5 mm at 16, 19,22,25, and 28°C, respectively. Mean weight increases at those respective temperatures were 4.0,11.6 15.3,17.3, and 16.6 g. Cubic polynomial equations were empirically derived to predict maximum growth rates for total length (AL, mm/day) and weight (AW, g/day) from temperature (T):

ΔL = -1.2299 + 0.1015·T + 5.566e^?04·T²-7.206e^?05·T³(r² =0.99);and ΔW = -0.6052 + 0.0508 · T - 2.287e^?04 · T² - 2.028e^?05 · T³ (r² = 0.99).

Estimates derived from these analyses indicated that maximum growth under these conditions ranged from 23.4 to 25.4°C for length and 24.8 to 26.0°C for weight. The overlap temperature range (24.8 to 25.4°C) from these model predictions should be a desirable target range for maximizing growth performance in length and weight of South Dakota yellow perch fingerlings.