Authors : A. Rocha Estrada, Ma. G. Alanis Guzman, D. Ricque Marie, L.E. Cruz Suarez, M.A. Alvarado Vazquez and C.L. Garcia Diaz
Abstract: To understand the nutritional value of chaya leaf meal (Cnidoscolus chayamansa) as an alternative diet for blue shrimp (Litopenaeus stylirostris), four separate diets that contained 0, 10, 20 or 30% chaya leaf meal were created. These diets replaced a mix of soybean meal/wheat meal (45.63-54.36%) and the effects of these diets were compared to those observed with a commercial diet. The diets were evaluated after ad libitum feeding of juvenile blue shrimp (initial weight of 0.250±0.04 g) for 28 days using a completely randomized design (4 replicates with 6 shrimp per aquarium). Bioassay results from the evaluated parameters demonstrated that the best diets for feeding rate and weight gain were the 20% chaya diet (1.36 g and 269.98%) and the commercial diet (1.46 g and 247.36%). For the feed conversion rate parameter, the best results were obtained from the 20% (2.06) and 0% (2.09) chaya diets. There were no significant differences in survival rates (p>0.05) but shrimp on the commercial diet had the lowest survival rate (88.88%).
A. Rocha Estrada, Ma. G. Alanis Guzman, D. Ricque Marie, L.E. Cruz Suarez, M.A. Alvarado Vazquez and C.L. Garcia Diaz, 2012. Evaluation of Chaya Leaf Meal Cnidoscolus chayamansa McVaugh in the Diets for Blue Shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris Stimpson. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 11: 4177-4181.