The effect of non‐marine HUFA supplementation with fish oil removal on growth and survival of the Pacific white shrimp,Litopenaeus vannamei

The use of non‐marine arachidonic acid (ArA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) enrichments was evaluated as complete replacements for marine fish oil in practical diets formulated with solvent‐extracted soybean meal (SESM). Litopenaeus vannamei juveniles (0.59 g) were reared over 84 days in an outdoor tank system with no water discharge. Fishmeal was replaced with SESM, while fish oil was replaced with HUFA‐rich algal cells, alternative oil and/or fermentation products. Spray‐dried Schizochytrium algal cells (Schizomeal‐Hi DHA) served as the DHA enrichment source. Oil extracted from Mortierella sp. was used as the ArA enrichment (AquaGrow^® ArA). DHA and ArA sources (Advanced BioNutrition Corp., Columbia, MD, USA) were non‐marine products obtained from a commercial supplier. Five diets were formulated with ArA inclusion levels of 0, 0.65, 1.3, 2.6 and 5.2 g kg^?1. In addition, one diet was formulated to be DHA deficient and another was formulated with menhaden fish oil (control). Different inclusion levels of non‐marine ArA had no effect on survival or growth. Shrimp fed the non‐marine HUFA‐supplemented diets had lower average weight compared to shrimp offered the diet containing fish oil. No differences were detected in average weights of shrimp offered the ArA‐deficient and ArA‐supplemented diets.