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Time-restricted self-feeding causes fin damage of Atlantic salmon

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Abstract

The way in which the feed is delivered mainly influences the growth rates and feed efficiency. Restricting the time during which food is available from a self-feeder may help to regulate production parameters, but may also increase competition. In this article, the effects of time-restricted self-feeding on growth, feeding behavior and fin index Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were studied over the course of 6 weeks. A total of 150 fish were divided into two groups in triplicates: One group had free access to self-feeders (FA), and the other group received three meals (2 h per meal) restricted to dawn, midday and dusk a day in light phase (TR). The results showed that there were no significant differences in production parameters (specific growth rate 1.33 ± 0.21 and 1.40 ± 0.21 % day−1, for TR and FA, respectively), body composition and nutrient retention efficiencies between treatments, while the FA fish had significantly higher food wastage (0.79 ± 0.06 vs. 0.56 ± 0.10 %) compared with the TR fish. In the course of the experiment, the TR fish gradually improved the accuracy of trigger actuation; in 1–2, 3–4 and 5–6 weeks, 61, 68 and 80 % trigger actuations happened in the feeding window. Nevertheless, there was a significant decrease in the dorsal fin index found in the TR fish as the experiment proceeded (9.83 ± 0.15 and 8.56 ± 0.04 for the beginning and end, respectively; P < 0.05). The results indicate that time-restricted self-feeding causes fin damage on Atlantic salmon but has little effect on their growth. One should cautiously apply a complex self-feeding regime during production.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their professional revision of the manuscript. The work is supported by Qingdao postdoctoral application research project (Y6KY01110N), National Natural Science Fund of China (Nos. 31472312, 41306152, 31402283), Qingdao Innovation Talents Program (13-CX-16), National Key Technologies R&D Program (2014BAD08B09), Shandong International Cooperation Project (2014DFA31030). The authors would like to give thanks to Shandong Oriental Ocean Sci-Tech Co., Ltd for support during the experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Ce Shi, Ying Liu, MengMeng Yi, Jimeng Zheng, Huiqin Tian & Yishuai Du

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    MengMeng Yi & Jimeng Zheng

  3. National & Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Ecological Mariculture, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Ce Shi, Ying Liu & Yishuai Du

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  1. Ce Shi
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  2. Ying Liu
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  3. MengMeng Yi
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  5. Huiqin Tian
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Correspondence to Ying Liu.

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Shi, C., Liu, Y., Yi, M. et al. Time-restricted self-feeding causes fin damage of Atlantic salmon. Aquacult Int 25, 47–55 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-016-0012-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-016-0012-2

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