Feed demand behavior in sea bass juveniles: Effects on individual specific growth rate variation and health (inter-individual and inter-group variation)

Type Article
Date 2008
Language English
Author(s) Millot Sandie1, Begout Marie-LaureORCID1, Person Jeannine2, Breuil Gilles3, Di Poi CaroleORCID4, Fievet Julie, Pineau Philippe1, Roue M1, Severe Armelle2
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Rochelle, UMR 6217 CRELA, CNRS IFREMER, F-17137 Lhoumeau, France.
2 : IFREMER, Ctr Brest, UMR 1067 NUAGE, Univ Bordeaux 1, F-29280 Plouzane, France.
3 : IFREMER, Lab Rech Piscicole Mediterranee, Stat Expt Aquaculture, F-34250 Palavas Les Flots, France.
4 : Univ St Etienne, Lab Ecol Neuro Etholog Sensorielles, F-42023 St Etienne, France.
Source Aquaculture (0044-8486) (Elsevier), 2008 , Vol. 274 , N. 1 , P. 87-95
DOI 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2007.11.004
WOS© Times Cited 35
Keyword(s) Welfare, Social interaction, Growth, Feeding activity
Abstract Feeding motivation is one major indicator of fish welfare and an investigation on the link between feed demand, growth and physiological variables in sea bass juveniles was developed. A computerized on-demand feeding system coupled with a PIT tag monitoring device was used to continuously record for 219 days the triggering activity of 150 individuals (initial average body weight 131.6 +/- 1.80 g and coefficient of variation 16.8%). Each group was held in 400 1 tanks at 22.2 +/- 1.5 degrees C and light regime was 16:8 LD. In all the tanks, 89% of the fish actuated the trigger, but only two or three fish accounted for 45% of the total triggering activity. These few high-triggering individuals had a transient higher growth i.e. at the time an individual was the high-triggering fish in the tank, its Specific Growth Rate (SGR) increased and was higher than that of the other fish. However, high-triggering fish did not exhibit a higher initial and final body weight nor a higher average SGR than low- and zero-triggering fish. Fish of different triggering categories did not show differences in physiological variables (muscle composition, blood and tissues biochemistry). This study also revealed that when an imbalance between apparent daily feed tank consumption and feed demand was observed (i.e. wastage), it was mostly due to an increasing demand rather than a decreasing consumption; such wastage could often be linked to particular stressors (measuring day, population sampling or social interactions) and therefore, feeding motivation disturbances could be a relevant operational fish welfare indicator. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Millot Sandie, Begout Marie-Laure, Person Jeannine, Breuil Gilles, Di Poi Carole, Fievet Julie, Pineau Philippe, Roue M, Severe Armelle (2008). Feed demand behavior in sea bass juveniles: Effects on individual specific growth rate variation and health (inter-individual and inter-group variation). Aquaculture, 274(1), 87-95. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2007.11.004 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/3738/