Evidence of compensatory growth of the gilthead seabream, Sparusaurata (Linnaeus, 1758)

By: Nasser Elkebir , Asadig Alghoull

Department of Zoology - Faculty of Science - University of Zawiya

Issue: Vol 21 |First Issue | 2015

article language: English

Abstract:

Feeding experiments were conducted to test the use of the compensatory growth phenomenon to improve growth efficiency and feed utilization for gilthead seabream (S. aurata). Five feeding cycles were applied in the experiment: daily feeding; one week of starvation followed by one week of feeding (1:1); two weeks of starvation followed by two weeks of feeding (2:2); three weeks of starvation followed by three weeks of feeding (3:3); and six weeks of starvation followed by six weeks of feeding (6:6). At the end of the experiment, it was found that fish treated with the 3-week feeding cycle (3:3) showed results comparable in terms of growth performance to fish treated with the daily feeding regime. The results also showed efficiency in feed utilization in terms of food conversion ratio (FCR) and feeding efficiency (FE%) compared to other feeding cycles. The results of the 1, 2, and 6-week cycles were not as good as the 3:3 cycle and the daily feeding regime. The study provided evidence of the occurrence of compensatory growth in fish when applying a feeding cycle of three weeks of starvation followed by three weeks of feeding.