Onomu, Abigail J., Vine, Niall G., Cyrus, Mark D., Macey, Brett M., and Bolton, John J. (2020) The effect of fresh seaweed and a formulated diet supplemented with seaweed on the growth and gonad quality of the collector sea urchin, Tripneustes gratilla, under farm conditions. Aquaculture Research, 51 (10). pp. 4087-4102.

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Abstract

This gonad enhancement study investigates the effect of different fresh and formulated feeds and feeding regimes on the growth and gonad quality of wild-collected adult sea urchin, Tripneustes gratilla, under farm conditions for over 18 weeks. In the first 12 weeks (phase 1), urchins were fed fresh Ulva rigida (U); a 50:50 mixture of fresh U. rigida and Gracilaria gracilis (UG); fresh G. gracilis (G) and a formulated diet 20U (containing 20% U. rigida), and in the final 6 weeks (phase 2) of the study, diet was changed to a formulated feed (20U diet). By the end of phase 1, urchins fed the 20U diet produced gonads (50.72 ± 5.4 g) that were significantly heavier (p < .001) than the gonads of urchins fed the fresh seaweed diets (U, UG & G). By the end of phase 2, gonad weight of urchins in treatment groups UG-20U and G-20U were similar to those fed the 20U-20U diet. Gonad colour of urchins in the G-20U treatment became significantly lighter (ANOVA, p = .029) and poorer quality, compared with urchins in the U-20U group. This gonad enhancement study, conducted on wild collected adult T. gratilla, has shown that a formulated feed (20U diet) can enhance gonad growth and produce commercially acceptable gonads. This farm-based study supports previous findings from aquarium-based studies by our group and indicates that short-term sea urchin gonad enhancement can be carried out under farm conditions in South Africa.

Item ID:	77233
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1365-2109
Keywords:	echinoculture, feeding regime, gonad enhancement, gonad maturity, Gracilaria gracilis, Ulva rigida
Copyright Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2020 The Authors. Aquaculture Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Date Deposited:	17 Jan 2023 00:48
FoR Codes:	30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3005 Fisheries sciences > 300501 Aquaculture @ 50% 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310904 Animal diet and nutrition @ 50%
SEO Codes:	10 ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND ANIMAL PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 1002 Fisheries - aquaculture > 100299 Fisheries - aquaculture not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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