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Effects of spectral composition, photoperiod and light intensity on the gonadal development of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS)

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Abstract

Artificial lighting regimes have been successfully used to inhibit sexual maturity of Atlantic salmon in confinement. However, when these operations are applied in commercial recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) using standard lighting technology, sexual maturation is not suppressed. In this study, an L9 (33) orthogonal design was used to determine the effects of three factors (spectral composition, photoperiod, and light intensity) on the gonadal development of Atlantic salmon in RAS. We demonstrated that the photoperiod at the tested levels had a much greater effect on the gonadosomatic index and female Fulton condition factor than spectral composition and light intensity. The photoperiod had a significant effect on the secretion of sex steroids and melatonin (P<0.05), and a short photoperiod delayed sex steroid and melatonin level increases. The three test factors had no significant effects on the survival rate, specific growth rate, relative weight gain, and male Fulton condition factor (P>0.05). The optimum lighting levels in female and male Atlantic salmon were LD 8:16, 455 nm (or 625 nm), 8.60 W/m2; and LD 8:16, 8.60 W/m2, 455 nm respectively. These conditions not only delayed gonadal development, but also had no negative effects on Atlantic salmon growth in RAS. These results demonstrate that a combination of spectral composition, photoperiod and light intensity is effective at delaying the gonadal development of both male and female salmon in RAS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Denggao Qiu  (仇登高), Shihong Xu  (徐世宏), Liang Chi  (迟良), Xian Li  (李贤), Guoxiang Sun  (孙国祥), Baoliang Liu  (刘宝良) & Ying Liu  (刘鹰)

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Denggao Qiu  (仇登高) & Guoxiang Sun  (孙国祥)

  3. Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Changbin Song  (宋昌斌)

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  1. Denggao Qiu  (仇登高)
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  2. Shihong Xu  (徐世宏)
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  4. Liang Chi  (迟良)
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  5. Xian Li  (李贤)
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  7. Baoliang Liu  (刘宝良)
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  8. Ying Liu  (刘鹰)
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Correspondence to Ying Liu  (刘鹰).

Additional information

Supported by the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China (No. 2011BAD13B04), the Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-EW-Q212), the Public Service Sectors (Agriculture) Special Project (No. 201003024), the Earmarked Fund for Modern Agro-Industry Technology Research System, and the Shandong Program for Development of Science and Technology (No. 2013GHY11514)

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Qiu, D., Xu, S., Song, C. et al. Effects of spectral composition, photoperiod and light intensity on the gonadal development of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 33, 45–56 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-015-4011-3

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