Nutritional Enhancement of n-3 and n-6 Fatty Acids in Rotifers and Artemia Nauplii by Feeding Spray-dried Schizochytrium sp.

A docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), 22:6(n-3), rich strain of Schizochytrium sp. was used in a spray-dried form to evaluate the enhancement of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) in Artemia franciscana nauplii (Utah biotype) and the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis . This heterotrophic microalga was selected because of its high concentration of the longest chain HUFAs in the n-3 and n-6 series, DHA and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), 22:5(n-6), respectively. When 24-h-old Artemia nauplii were fed 400 mg/L of the algae for 24 h, the DHA content of the nauplii went from undetectable levels to 0.8% of dry weight and the omega-3 HUFA eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), 20:5n-3, content went from 0.1% to 0.5% of dry weight in the nauplii. Similarly, 22:5(n-6) increased in the nauplii from undetectable levels to 0.4% of dry weight, with a concomitant increase in arachidonic acid, (20:4n-6), from trace to 0.3% of dry weight even though there was no arachidonic acid in the algal biomass. Similar enrichment patterns were observed in rotifers. The results suggest that spray-dried cells of Schizochytrium sp. are effective in enriching Artemia naupli and rotifers in both n-3 and n-6 HUFAs. The results also suggest that Artemia nauplii and rotifers are capable of readily retroconverting 22:6(n-3) to 20:5(n-3) and 22:5(n-6) to 20:4(n-6) through the process of β-oxidation, a well-known process in mammals.