Effects of Adding Myriophyllum spicatum L. Meal in Diets on the Growth, Body Composition and Digestive Enzymes Activities of Juvenile Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka)

Abstract:

To investigate whether Myriophyllum spicatum can substitute Sargassum thunbergii in sea cucumber culture industry, five diets containing 0(A0), 15%(A1), 30%(A2), 45%(A3) and 60% (A4) Myriophyllum spicatum meal were formulated to identify the effect of substituting M. spicatum L. in growth performance, body composition and digestive enzymes activities. The results showed that the growth rate (GR) of sea cucumbers in group A4 was significantly higher than other groups, and that sea cucumbers in group A4 showed the best survival rate (SR) (97.78%). Significantly higher crude protein content was observed in group A4 (50.92%) compared with other groups (P<0.05). The amylase activity of group A3 (0.83 U/g prot) was significantly higher than other groups (P<0.05). The protease activity in group A4 (1.62 U/g prot) was significantly higher than all other groups (P<0.05). The results of this study provide strong evidence to replace S. thunbergii with M. spicatum L. in the sea cucumber culture industry.