Replacing kelp meal (Macrocystis pyrifera) with a winery by-product in a balanced diet for green abalone (Haliotis fulgens)

Abstract

Kelp meal made from Macrocystis pyrifera is a common ingredient in abalone diets (Haliotis fulgens); however, a greater demand for this ingredient as feed supplement for domestic animals has led to a considerable increase in price and it has become costly to use in balanced diets. Hence, the aim of the present work is to study the possibility of replacing kelp meal in the abalone diet with a regional winery by-product. Five diets were formulated in which kelp meal was substituted from 0% to 100%, at a maximum of 33% of the total of ingredients; 375 abalone (15.09 ± 0.38 mm and 0.434 ± 0.03 g) were used, randomly distributed in fifteen 8-L plastic buckets. After 60 days of experimentation, significant differences were detected in the slopes of the different treatments for both length and weight. Since the inclusion of the winery by-product resulted in a lower feed ingestion but the feed conversion efficiency remained constant, a factor of low palatability can be attributed to the winery by-product and not an antinutritional factor. It is concluded that the winery by-product can be substituted for kelp meal in 16% of the total diet without having a negative effect on the growth of the organisms.