Effect of Aspergillus niger fermented soybean meal and sunflower oil cake on growth, carcass composition and haemolymph indices in Penaeus vannamei Boone, 1931

Abstract Commercial solvent extracted soybean meal (SBM) and sunflower oil cake (SFC) were fermented using the fungus, Aspergillus niger. A 45-day indoor feeding trial was carried out to assess the effect of these fermented ingredients on growth, carcass composition and haemolymph indices in Penaeus vannamei. Nine iso‑nitrogenous diets were formulated by replacing fishmeal ( w /w) with untreated/fermented SBM (200, 250, 300. 350 and 400 g/kg) and SFC (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 g/kg). Each diet was randomly allotted to three tanks holding 20 shrimp per tank under flow-through culture condition (1.5 ml/min). Results revealed that there was no significant difference in the growth between animals fed on diets containing fermented SBM up to 350 g/kg and fermented SFC up to 50 g/kg and those fed on the control diet, whereas, the level of inclusion was 250 and 25 g/kg for the respective untreated materials. However, the broken-line analysis indicated that maximum inclusion level of fermented SBM and fermented SFC was 325.1 and 32.6 g/kg respectively. Better feed efficiency measures were obtained with diets formulated using the fermented ingredients when compared to those formulated using the respective untreated ingredients. A significant increase was observed in ether extract levels of shrimp fed on the diets containing test ingredients when compared to those fed on control diet. Haemolymph indices showed a significant difference in total protein, glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides levels between the dietary treatments. The results of this study indicate that the fungal fermented ingredients could be used as potential protein sources rather than untreated materials in the diet of P. vannamei .