Evaluation of lipid-enriched Artemia on the reproductive performance of the white-striped cleaner shrimp, Lysmata amboinensis

Broodstock maturation diets are an important component of shrimp hatchery management, since the nutritional status of spawners can impact on gonadal maturation, egg fecundity, embryo hatchability and overall larval quality. The ability to manipulate the biochemical composition of Artemia to deliver key nutrients to cultured animals has rendered their inclusion in broodstock feeds increasingly common. Lipid enrichment of Artemia to boost their highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) content is a standard procedure. During this study, frozen, lipid-enriched adult Artemia were fed to Lysmata amboinensis broodstock to investigate the suitability of Artemia as maturation diet for the species and elucidate the role of essential fatty acids (EFAs) in the reproductive performance of the shrimp. Four lipid enrichment levels, un-enriched (“unenr”), 1/3 enriched (“1/3 enr”), 2/3 enriched (“2/3 enr”) and enriched (“enr”) Artemia, were fed to L. amboinensis over three reproductive cycles. Spawning and egg mass retention during the incubation period were high for all diets. Larval production varied, however, and was significantly greater (P < 0.001) for L. amboinensis broodstock fed the “enr” Artemia compared with the other treatments, with a mean 529 (±76.76) larvae, as opposed to 49 (±11.16) recorded for the “unenr”. The increased larval production was attributed to better embryo hatchability and related to an increased docosahexaenoic (DHA) dietary content of 11% (in total FAs) and a DHA/eicosapentaenoic (EPA) ratio of 3.6. The roles of other EFAs are also discussed.