Effects of replacement of fish meal with fermented cottonseed meal on growth performance, body composition and haemolymph indexes of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei Boone, 1931

A feeding trial was performed for 28 days to evaluate the effects of replacement of fish meal (FM) with fermented cottonseed meal (FCM) on growth, body composition and haemolymph indexes of vannamei. Four isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated by using FCM (96.4, 206, 117 and 417 g kg(-1)) to substitute 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of FM in a control diet respectively. Fach did was randomly allotted to four tanks with 20 shrimp per tank. The feeding trail was conducted in an indoor flow-through aquaculture system. Shrimp fed diets containing 317 and 417 g kg of FCM obtained lower (P < 0.05) final weight, weight gain, specific growth ratio, protein efficiency ratio as well as a higher (P < 0.05) feed conversion ratio compared with shrimp fed the control diet. The body ash content decreased (P < 0.05) in shrimp fed the diet with complete replacement of FM than those in other treatments. Moreover, increasing the dietary inclusion of FCM linearly raised (P < 0.05) the concentrations of total gossypol, () and () gossypol enantiomers in the whole shrimp body. No difference (P > 0.05) was observed in haematological parameters among the treatments. The results suggest that up to 50% of FM can he replaced by FCM without adverse effects on growth and feed utilization of L. vannamei.