Research Highlights

Aquaculture/Fisheries Center Research Highlights

Baitfish

Improving the efficiency of baitfish production
Nathan Stone and Rebecca Lochmann

The majority of US bait and ornamental fish production occurs in Arkansas. Farmers face increasing pressure to keep prices low and must reduce production costs to maintain market share. The production changes most likely to provide this increased efficiency require increased pounds per acre of production and more consistent yields.

Studies have been conducted to optimize feed formulations (vitamins, lipids, protein), hatchery methods (egg collection and hatching, fry handling), and stocking rates.

Recently completed studies have shown that appropriate feeding and stocking of golden shiner ponds can yield crops far in excess of industry averages. These methods are being adopted by farmers and if spread industry-wide will be expected to increase yields by 200 lb/acre (50%). Farmers can either reduce production acreage, saving $550/acre annually in variable costs, or find new markets for the additional production. Net returns/acre have been estimated to increase by $138 for every 50-lb increase in yield. If adopted by the entire industry, the impact would be a minimum of $3.3 million per year
Identification of key nutrients in baitfish broodstock diets to improve egg and larval quality
Rebecca Lochmann

Trial 2 (Spring 2003) was conducted with golden shiner broodstock using diets differing only in supplemental lipid source. At the end of the trial the broodstock fed the diet with soybean lecithin had a significantly lower relative weight than those fed the other diets. This effect was unexpected and the lecithin may have been compromised (the source differed from Trial 1). There were differences in fatty acid composition of the eggs related to diet, with the strongest effects seen in concentrations of the n-6 fatty acids(18:2n-6 and 20:4n-6, P<0.04)). Eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) was the only n-3 fatty acid to show a diet effect (P=0.06). The ratio of n-3 to n-6 fatty acids was markedly different between diets (P<0.0001). Golden shiner fry were subjected to high-pH stress tests (pH=9) for 1 hour. Mortality was highly variable and no consistent diet effects were seen across tests.