THE USE OF SILAGE MADE FROM FISH AND ABALONE VISCERA AS AN INGREDIENTIN ABALONE FEED

Silage prepared from fish and abalone viscera are effective dietary pr otein sources for the juvenile abalone, Haliotis fulgens. Significantl y higher growth rates occurred when abalone were fed artificial diets containing heated fish silage (53 mu m day(-1)) and unheated fish sila ge (61 mu m day(-1)) as a protein source compared with the kelp, Macro cystis pyrifera (1.5 mu m day(-1)). However, no differences were found between diets containing heated and unheated fish silage at 30% prote in inclusion, suggesting that the degree of hydrolysis did not affect protein utilization by abalone. Similar results were obtained when aba lone viscera silage was used (50 mu m day(-1)), producing faster growt h rates than kelp (18 mu m day(-1)) or kelp meal (12 mu m day(-1)). In the same experiment a significant increase in growth rate was observe d when at,alone with low growth rates, resulting from feeding on kelp and kelp meal, were switched to a diet containing abalone viscera sila ge. These animals exhibited higher growth rates (135 and 167 mu m day( -1)) than animals fed this diet throughout the trial (122 mu m day(-1) ), suggesting the presence of compensatory growth of organisms.