Lipid nutrition of juvenile Litopenaeus vannamei: I. Dietary cholesterol and de-oiled soy lecithin requirements and their interaction

Two 6-week experiments were conducted in recirculating systems to determine dietary requirements of Litopenaeus vannamei for phospholipids (PL) and cholesterol, and their potential interaction. A 3×4 factorial design consisting of three cholesterol levels (0%, 0.2%, and 0.5% of diet) and four PL levels (0%, 1.5%, 3.0%, and 5.0% of diet) provided by de-oiled soybean lecithin (SL) was applied. Overall survival was 97.7% with no significant difference among dietary treatments. There was a highly significant interaction between PL and cholesterol on shrimp growth (P=0.0001). Dietary cholesterol at 0.2% or 0.5% gave similar shrimp growth at any given level of PL.

In a second factorial experiment, the same four levels of PL were evaluated in conjunction with smaller intervals between dietary cholesterol levels, 0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.4%, in an attempt to define dietary requirements and interaction better. Overall survival was 99.7%. A highly significant interaction between dietary PL and cholesterol on growth of shrimp was detected again (P=0.0001). The cholesterol requirement was estimated to be 0.35% of diet in the absence of supplemental PL. At 1.5% and 3% PL, dietary cholesterol requirements were reduced to 0.14% and 0.13% of diet, respectively. When PL were provided at 5% of diet, 0.05% dietary cholesterol was needed for optimal growth. Shrimp growth was significantly enhanced as level of PL increased, but as the level of dietary cholesterol level increased, the growth-promoting effect of PL was diminished. Lipid composition of hepatopancreas (mid-gut gland) and muscle tissue of shrimp fed the different diets was also analyzed. Diets supplemented with PL resulted in higher total lipid in hepatopancreas and lower total lipid in muscle of shrimp than those of shrimp fed diets without supplemental PL. Interaction between dietary PL and cholesterol also affected total lipid and triglycerides (TG) in the hepatopancreas, as well as cholesterol concentration in the muscle.     

Mineral Requirements of Penaeus vannamei: A Preliminary Examination of the Dietary Essentiality for Thirteen Minerals

Diets containing a complete mineral premix or mineral premixes from which Ca, P, Na, CI, K, Mg, Mn, Fe, Zn, Cu, I, Se, or Cr were individually deleted were fed to juvenile Penaeus vunnamei (mean initial weight 79.5 mg) over a 4-week experimental period. Final mean percent weight gain ranged from 1,472 (Cu-free mineral premix) to 1,991% (Na-free mineral premix) with an average of 1,812% for all treatments. Survival during the first two week period and the second two week period was greater than 92% and 88%, respectively. There were no significant differences observed among treatments for growth and survival data.
Upon termination of the growth trial, the hepatopancreas and carapace were dissected from the shrimp and evaluated for ash, Ca, P, Na, K, Mg, Mn, Fe, Zn and Cu content. Of the minerals analyzed, the individual deletion of Mg, Mn, Fe, Zn and Cu from the mineral supplement resulted in reduced tissue mineralization in P. vannamei whereas, the deletion of Ca and P from the mineral mix did not produce significant responses. Deletion of Se from the mineral premix resulted in a significant increase in the ash content of the carapace. Based on the information provided by this and other studies, further investigation of the dietary requirements of P. vannamei for Ca, P, Fe, Mg, Mn, Zn, Cu and Se is recommended.     

Effects of Dietary Carbohydrate: Lipid Ratio on Growth and Body Composition of Hybrid Striped Bass

A study was conducted to determine the ability of juvenile hybrid striped bass, Morone crysops ♀× M. saxatilis ♂ , to utilize dietary carbohydrate and lipid for energy. Four semipurified diets containing 35% crude protein were formulated to be isocaloric with various levels of dextrin and menhaden fish oil 50 the carbohydrate: lipid ratio (CHO:L) ranged from 2510 to 42:2.5. Diets were fed in triplicate to groups of hybrid striped bass initially averaging 1.5 g/fish in 38 L aquaria receiving a constant supply of hard (> 180 mg/L as CaCO₃) freshwater for a period of eight weeks. Weight gain, feed and protein efficiencies were similar among all dietary groups. Hepatosomatic index (liver weight × 100/body weight), muscle ratio (whole muscle weight × 100/body weight) and condition factor were also similar, while intraperitoneal fat (IPF) ratio (IPF weight × 100/ body weight) was significantly ( P × 0.05) increased as CHO:L decreased. Proximate composition of muscle did not show any effects of diet. However, dry matter and lipid of whole-body increased significantly as CHO:L decreased; conversely whole-body protein was significantly reduced. Moreover, liver glycogen significantly increased as CHO:L decreased. These data indicate hybrid striped bass are able to efficiently utilize carbohydrate for energy; and dietary lipid, which generally caused increased lipid deposition in various tissues, could be partially replaced with carbohydrate to improve fish quality and productivity.     

ASAS–NANP Symposium: Mathematical Modeling in Animal Nutrition: Opportunities and challenges of confined and extensive precision livestock production

Modern animal scientists, industry, and managers have never faced a more complex world. Precision livestock technologies have altered management in confined operations to meet production, environmental, and consumer goals. Applications of precision technologies have been limited in extensive systems such as rangelands due to lack of infrastructure, electrical power, communication, and durability. However, advancements in technology have helped to overcome many of these challenges. Investment in precision technologies is growing within the livestock sector, requiring the need to assess opportunities and challenges associated with implementation to enhance livestock production systems. In this review, precision livestock farming and digital livestock farming are explained in the context of a logical and iterative five-step process to successfully integrate precision livestock measurement and management tools, emphasizing the need for precision system models (PSMs). This five-step process acts as a guide to realize anticipated benefits from precision technologies and avoid unintended consequences. Consequently, the synthesis of precision livestock and modeling examples and key case studies help highlight past challenges and current opportunities within confined and extensive systems. Successfully developing PSM requires appropriate model(s) selection that aligns with desired management goals and precision technology capabilities. Therefore, it is imperative to consider the entire system to ensure that precision technology integration achieves desired goals while remaining economically and managerially sustainable. Achieving long-term success using precision technology requires the next generation of animal scientists to obtain additional skills to keep up with the rapid pace of technology innovation. Building workforce capacity and synergistic relationships between research, industry, and managers will be critical. As the process of precision technology adoption continues in more challenging and harsh, extensive systems, it is likely that confined operations will benefit from required advances in precision technology and PSMs, ultimately strengthening the benefits from precision technology to achieve short- and long-term goals.