Growth, survival, proximate and fatty acid composition of sandworm Perinereis quatrefagesi (Grube, 1878) fed variable feed types

Sandworm Perinereis quatrefagesi has been used as feed for crustacean broodstock due to its reproductive-enhancing properties particularly protein and highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs). Juvenile sandworms collected along the coast of Guimbal, Iloilo were reared in tanks and fed three nutritionally variable feed types: fish fecal waste, fish meal and rice bran. After 56 days, feeds affected (p<0.05) sandworm growth and crude fat contents but not (p<0.05) survival and crude protein levels. Survival rates were 86~c3 to 89~c5% while crude protein levels were 57.0 ~c 2.5 to 68.0 ~c 5.3 g 100 g-1 dry weight. High crude protein fish meal promoted better (p<0.05) growth (2.2~c0.4% day-1) than fish feces (1.2~c0.3% day-1) and rice bran (1.1~c0.3 % day-1). However, crude fat content of sandworm was higher (p<0.05) in rice bran (18.9~c1.6 g 100 g-1) than in fecal waste (13.6~c2.9 g 100 g-1) and fish meal (10.5~c3.1 g 100 g-1) treatments. Levels of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) such as 20:4 n-6, 22:6 n-3 and 20:5 n-3 did not differ significantly (p>0.05) at 0.41~c0.21 to 0.89~c0.51 g 100 g-1, 0.21~c0.24 to 0.43~c0.22 g 100 g-1 and 0.57~c0.46 to 0.88~c0.31 g 100 g-1, respectively. The study demonstrated that P. quatrefagesi: (1) can survive well in nutritionally variable feed types although it grows better in high protein diet; (2) crude protein levels were high regardless of feed types; and (3) crude fat content was high in high fat diet but n-3 and n-6 HUFAs were not significantly different regardless of feed types.