Apparent Digestibility of 12 Protein-Origin Ingredients for Pacific White Shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

Using 0.5% chromic oxide as an external indicator, apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) were determined for 12 protein feed ingredients (fish meal [FM], blood meal [BM], meat-and-bone meal [MBM], poultry byproduct meal [PBM], shrimp head meal [SHM], squid visceral meal [SVM], soybean meal [SBM], rapeseed meal [RM], cottonseed meal [CM], peanut meal [PM], corn gluten meal [CGM], and brewer's yeast [BY]) fed to Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (mean initial weight +/- SD = 4.45 +/- 0.21g). The shrimp were randomly allocated to thirty-nine 150-L tanks (20 shrimp/tank) and were hand-fed a reference diet or test diet (70% reference diet and 30% test feed by weight) twice daily to satiation. Feces were collected by siphoning. The observed range of ADCs of the 12 ingredients was 48.687.0% for dry matter, 55.792.3% for crude protein, 2.192.5% for crude lipid, 52.179.9% for phosphorus, and 51.197.2% for gross energy. Relatively high ADCs were observed for dry matter in FM (87.0%) and MBM (76.5%); for crude protein in FM (90.9%), SBM (92.3%), and PM (88.8%); for crude lipid in FM (92.5%) and SVM (88.5%); and for phosphorus (79.9, 72.7, 72.5, and 78.5%) and gross energy (97.2, 82.3, 84.0, and 84.6%) in FM, MBM, PBM, and BY. The ADCs of amino acids for the 12 ingredients were 86.797.4% (FM), 58.498.8% (BM), 46.999.6% (MBM), 54.895.4% (PBM), 79.0100.0% (SHM), 58.393.0% (SVM), 60.799.4% (SBM), 62.699.6% (RM), 52.991.4% (CM), 60.199.9% (PM), 15.697.8% (CGM), and 30.398.4% (BY). Fish meal, SBM, and PM showed high average ADCs for total amino acids (>90%). Crude protein ADCs corresponded with amino acid ADCs. Resultant digestibility data may provide more accurate information pertinent to formulating commercial feeds for Pacific white shrimp. Received May 22, 2012; accepted July 17, 2012