Effect of Different Microalgae and Commercial Feeds on Growth, Protein and Fatty Acid Profile of Rotifer (Brachionus plicatilis)

Abstract

Rotifer is the first live prey for marine fish larvae. At that stage, the quality of live prey such as rotifer (Brachionus plicatilis), which is the first feed of larvae, play an import ant role in survival. Rotifers are known to lack essential fatty acids (EFA), essential amino acids (EAA), vitamins and minerals in comparison to the copepods, the natural feed of marine fish larvae. Therefore, before the enrichment process, increasing growth rate of rotifer in short time with high nutritional value is very important. In this study, effects of two freshly cultured microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris and Dunaliella salina) and three commercial rotifer feeds (Beaker's yeast (R), S.parkle (R) and Beaker's yeast+W-3 (R)) were evaluated for growth performance, proximate composition and fatty acid profile of rotifers. Chlorella vulgaris ve Dunaliella salina were cultivated in 3N-BBM+V and f/2 medium respectively. Rotifers were fed with five experimental diets during 7 days of feeding experiment. At the end of the experiment, rotifers fed "Beaker's yeast+W3" showed highest rotifer population among experimental groups. Oleic acid level was found higher in rotifer fed Chlorella vulgaris group and another important fatty acid EPA was found higher in rotifer fed Beaker's yeast. In conclusion, that commercial products have high potential on the numbers of produced rotifers, however, microalgae are still important for obtaining high essential fatty acid profile in terms of delivering essential nutrients.