Effects of feeding Artemia franciscana enriched with HUFA, vitamins C and E on growth performance, survival and stress resistance of cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) (Ehrenberg, 1831)

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of using <em>Artemia franciscana</em> enriched with cod liver oil and vitamins C and E on the growth, survival and stress resistance of juvenile <em>Sepia pharaonis</em> (Pharaoh cuttlefish)<em>.</em> Twenty-five days after hatching, the larvae of <em>S. pharaonis</em> were transferred into culture tanks with an average length of 15.97±0.15 mm and average body weight of 3.53±0.03 g, in eleven treatments (with 3 replicates). The treatments included: highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) +5, 10 and 15% vitamin E-enriched <em>Artemia</em> (E1, E2 and E3 groups, respectively), HUFA+5, 10 and 15% vitamin C-enriched <em>Artemia</em> (C1, C2 and C3 groups, respectively), HUFA+2.5% (w/w) vitamins C- and E-enriched <em>Artemia</em> (CE1 group), HUFA+5% (w/w) vitamins C- and E-enriched <em>Artemia</em> (CE2 group), HUFA+7.5% (w/w) vitamins C- and E-enriched <em>Artemia</em> (CE3 group), HUFA without vitamins (HUFA group) and non-enriched <em>Artemia</em> (control). For each replicate, 20 larvae were introduced into tanks of 20 L, and 10 <em>Artemia</em> L^-1day^-1 were used to feed the larvae. At the end of the experiment, to investigate stress resistance, three groups of larvae were submitted to one hour stress at three levels of salinity (5, 15 and 25 ppt), and temperature (10, 25 and 32 °C). The results showed that cuttlefish fed with CE1, CE2, CE3 and larvae fed with HUFA without vitamins were significantly different (<em>p</em><0.05) with regards to growth performance and survival as compared with the control. Feeding with vitamin C and unsaturated fatty acid elevated the survival and growth factors of <em>S. pharaonis</em> larvae. Also, the survival of larvae against induced stress increased (<em>p</em><0.05).