Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXIII, Issue 1
Written by Stefan-Mihai PETREA, Alina MOGODAN, Ira-Adeline SIMIONOV, Aurelia NICA, Daniela Ancuța ȘARPE, Victor CRISTEA
In order to assure high financial sustainability of intensive sturgeon aquaculture, a proper feeding rate must be identified for different stages of growth. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the effect of two different feeding rates (F1 - 1% biomass weight BW, respectively F2 - 2% BW) on growth performance of A. stellatus, with a mean individual biomass of 201.7±32.82 g, reared in intensive conditions. The F2 experimental variant register, overall, a better feeding efficiency, revealed by feed conversion rate (FCR) average value (1.02 g feed/g biomass gain), compared to F1 (1.28 g feed/g biomass gain). Also, the sturgeon exemplars from F2 experimental variant manifested, overall, a superior ability of using feed protein for growth (higher average protein efficiency ratio - PER: 2.39 g/g), compared to F1 (PER: 1.95 g/g). The feeding rate applied at F2 assures the maximization of sturgeon production quantity, emphasized by the higher overall values of average specific growth rate (SGR: 1.74% BW/day at F2, compared to 0.78% BW/day at F1). The biomass and length coefficients of variation (CVw, respectively CVL) indicate, for both experimental variants, a high homogeneity degree of stellate sturgeon experimental population (CVw: 16.51% at F1 and 12.53% at F2, respectively CVL: 5.29% at F1 and 4.43% at F2, both registered at the end of the experiment). Therefore, it is recommended to apply 2% feeding rate in order to assure a better efficiency of sturgeons rearing technology, during the analyzed growth stage.
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