Effect of intermittent starvation on growth and some antioxidant indexes of Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan)

• Published in: Aquaculture research Vol. 40; no. 5; pp. 526 - 532
• Main Authors: Li, Zhi-Hua, Xie, Song, Wang, Jun-Xia, Sales, James, Li, Ping, Chen, Da-Qing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2009
• Subjects: antioxidant indexes; compensatory growth; Freshwater; Macrobrachium nipponense; starvation
• ISSN: 1355-557X; 1365-2109
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2109.2008.02123.x

The effect of different periods of starvation (0, 2, 4 and 8 days) followed by re‐feeding on growth, feed utilization, oxygen consumption and some immune indexes [reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs), activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT)] was evaluated over an 18‐day experimental period in shrimp Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan) that had an initial body weight of 0.52 g. As a result of compensatory growth, indicated by an increase in specific growth rate (SGR), feeding rate (FR) and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) after re‐feeding, final body weight of shrimp starved for 2 days (0.63 g) and 4 days (0.65 g) did not differ (P>0.05) from the control group (0.64 g), with feed withholding for 8 days presenting a significant lower value (0.63 g). Oxygen consumption rate (OCR) decreased during the starvation period in all groups, followed by a gradual increase to a similar (P>0.05) value than found in the control group (0.47 mg kg−1 h−1) at the end of the experiment. Although ROIs and the activity of SOD and CAT fluctuated during starvation in the feed‐deprived groups, values at the termination of the experiment were comparable (P>0.05) to those found for the control group.