Utilization of fermented soybean meal for fishmeal substitution in diets of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)

Two feeding experiments were carried out to evaluate the utilization of fermented soybean meal (FSBM) in diets for Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). The digestibility experiment was assessed with four diets: a reference diet and three ingredient test diets containing FSBM, local and Chilean fishmeal. The growth experiment was conducted including four isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets formulated to contain the graded levels of dietary fishmeal (0 g/kg, 150 g/kg, 300 g/kg and 450 g/kg) substituted by FSBM. The results indicated that ADCs of crude protein in FSBM were high (888.4 g/kg) and equal in local fishmeal but little lower than Chilean fishmeal while without any significant differences observed in ADCs of crude lipid among the different test ingredients. After 75 days of growth trial, survival rates and feed conversion ratio were not significantly different among the experimental treatments. However, shrimp fed the diets with increasing inclusions of FSBM had a tendency to reduce weight gain and specific growth rate. Based on the correlation between weight gain and substituted fishmeal level analysed by broken‐line regression, the optimum level of fishmeal replaced by FSBM in diet was 253.6 g/kg without adverse effects on growth and feed utilization of Pacific white shrimp.