Zootechnical performance of juvenile Pomacea haustrum (Revee, 1856) under diff erent diets and salinities

Abstract

The development of aquaculture through the cultivation of species considered unconventional is an alternative with the potential to solve the problem of food scarcity. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the zootechnical performance of young Pomacea haustrum fed with different commercial diets and submitted to different salinity values. After hatching 7 P. haustrum spawns in the laboratory, the young were randomly selected and transferred to the culture containers. Two different commercial feeds were offered: rabbit feed with a higher amount of ingredients rich in crude protein of vegetable origin (VP); and dog food containing balanced levels of ingredients rich in crude protein of vegetable and animal origin (PM). The animals were randomly stocked at different salinities (0, 2 and 4) parts per thousand (ppt). The experiment lasted 65 days. After 21 hours of beginning of the experiment, 100% of the individuals cultivated in salinity of 4 ppt died. There was a significant difference (p≤0.05) between the zootechnical performance results (average final weight, weight gain, average final growth, specific growth rate, protein efficiency and apparent feed conversion) of animals cultivated in fresh water, and in salinity of 2 ppt regardless of the diet offered. The protein origin of the diet did not significantly influence the zootechnical performance of the cultivated individuals. However, the salinity of the culture water harmed the development of the animals in a directly proportional way to its concentration.