Effect of feeding attractants on the behaviour and performance of juvenile Penaeus monodon Fabricius

Abstract. A study was conducted to obtain a measure of the potency of some potential and commercially used feeding attractants for Penaeus monodon Fabricius. Behavioural trials monitoring the feeding response of the shrimp were used to gauge the attractant qualities of the substances. A growth trial recording the feed intake, feed assimilation, growth, food conversion and survival rates of the shrimp was used to assess further the feeding stimulant properties of the substances.
Replicate groups of juvenile shrimp were fed semi-purified diets containing 1·5% by weight of a range of potential feeding attractants.
In the behavioural trial, diets containing taurine and a yeast extract were found to be significantly preferred to the control and all other diets. However, none of the substances appeared to act as potent feeding stimulants, producing statistically similar feed intake and assimilation rates to the control diet. However, taurine and an amino acid mixture designed to mimic a clam extract promoted the best performance of the attractants tested in terms of growth rate and feeding efficiency.
Overall, the behavioural response of the shrimp to the feeding attractants was found to show similarities to the effects of attractant supplementation of feed on subsequent ongrowing performance, but not significantly so.