G. Merchie et al., LIVE FOOD MEDIATED VITAMIN-C TRANSFER TO DICENTRARCHUS-LABRAX AND CLARIAS-GARIEPINUS, Journal of applied ichthyology, 11(3-4), 1995, pp. 336-341
Live food enrichment techniques, using formulated diets and emulsions
for improving the nutritional quality of Brachionus and Artemia, were
studied as a tool for transferring ascorbic acid (AA) to fish larvae.
Artemia nauplii enriched for 24 h with an experimental emulsion contai
ning 20% HUFA and 0%, 10% and 20% ascorbyl palmitate (AP) were adminis
tered to catfish larvae in a 20-day feeding trial. Survival was not af
fected by the dietary AA, but from day 7 onwards a significantly posit
ive effect of supplemental PLA on growth was demonstrated. At the end
of the experiment the 20% AP group weighed 30% more than the control (
0% AP), i.e. 9.5 and 6.3 mg DW, respectively. Evaluation of the physio
logical condition was demonstrated by salinity tests. In all three tre
atments larval growth was relatively low, and it still has to be verif
ied if extra vitamin C in the diet really promotes growth. Seabass lar
vae fed on AP-enriched rotifers (days 4-12) and Artemia nauplii (days
13-46) showed no significant differences in production characteristics
nor in stress resistance, however, for all salinity stress tests the
20% AT group performed better. AA was well incorporated into the preda
tor larvae from the Brachionus feeding onwards.