The Effects of Fermented Kapok (Ceiba petandra) Seed Meal Diet in Growth and Survival Rate of White Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) Juvenile

Abstract

Kapok seed meal (KSM) is a side product of kapok seed oil (KSO) processing and it can be used as protein source for shrimp feed. Unfortunately, the kapok seeds contain gossypol that plays as an anti nutrient substance and cyclopropenoic fatty acids, that could interfere the function of hepatopancreas, digestive enzymes and body fat composition. The gossypol can be eliminated by microbial activity namely the fermentation proocess. This research aims to understand the effect of fermented kapok (Ceiba petandra) seed meal the addition in the diet white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) juveniles on growth and survival rate of the shrimp. The shrimp were maintained in aquarium with a density of 15 shrimps/aquarium for 42 days. There were 4 treatments applied (3 repetition/ treatments). The control shrimp was feed on commercial pellet and they was not provided with KSM (Diet 4); while the feed of shrimp in Diet 1, Diet 2, and Diet were provided with 10, 20, and 30% of the fermented KSM. Specific growth rate, feed convertion ratio and survival rate were evaluated. Results shown that there was no different in weight gain, specific growth rate and survival rate of the shrimp, while feed convertion ratio was different diet and the best result was found in Diet 1 (2.44 ± 0.23%).