Nutritional Properties of the Marine Rotifer Brachionus plicatilis Fed the Freshwater Microalgae Selenastrum capricornutum

This study examined the effects of storage time on the fatty acid composition of freshwater Selenastrum capricornutum algal paste under 4 C refrigeration, the fatty acid composition of rotifers fed the fresh and stored algal paste, and the toxicological properties of the algal paste. Microalgae were produced in a hydraulically integrated serial turbidostat algal reactor (HIS-TAR), harvested as a paste, refrigerated and analyzed every 2 wk. Fresh Selenastrum capricornutum paste had almost three times greater concentration of unsaturated fatty acids than saturated fatty acids. Over 50% of the unsaturated fatty acids were made up of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids. Total unsaturated, n-3 group and n-6 group fatty acids decreased ( P 0.05) during storage, including the nutritionally important fatty acids (C20:4n6, C20:5n3, C22: 6n3). Rotifers fed 2– and 4-wk-old algal paste had a significantly lower ( P 0.05) total unsaturated fatty acid percentage and significantly greater ( P 0.05) total saturated fatty acids than those fed fresh algae. There were no significant changes in the n-6 group fatty acid level in the 4-wk-old paste feeding study or for the n-3 or n-6 groups in the 2-wk-old paste feeding study as compared to fresh algae. The levels of the three nutritionally important fatty acids (C20:4n6, C20:5n3, C22:6n3) did not differ between rotifers fed fresh and stored algae. Stored algae did not present toxicity to rotifers and Daphnia at the normal feeding concentration. These results indicated that the use of refrigerated freshwater algal paste for production of rotifers results in live feed with adequate nutritional properties for marine larviculture. This could eliminate the costs associated with production of marine algae, which could be replaced with freshwater algae, and may provide an alternative to cryopreservation.