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Research Project: Reducing Impacts of Disease on Salmonid Aquaculture Production

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Title: Enhancement of lake sturgeon conservation through feeding management

Author
item DENG, DONG-FENG - Water Institute
item LEE, SEUNGHYUNG - Water Institute
item YANG, SONG - Water Institute
item ZHAI, SHAOWEI - Water Institute
item NUESE, JEFFREY - Water Institute
item Shepherd, Brian
item BINKOWSKI, FRED - Water Institute

Submitted to: American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2017
Publication Date: 3/28/2017
Citation: Deng, D., Lee, S., Yang, S., Zhai, S., Nuese, J., Shepherd, B.S., Binkowski, F. 2017. Enhancement of lake sturgeon conservation through feeding management. In: Proceedings of 46th Annual Meeting of American Fisheries Society, February 28-March 2, 2017, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. p. 19.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens), listed as threatened under the State of Michigan’s Endangered Species Act, has high ecological and economical values as a native benthivore. Many efforts for enhancing stocking have been implemented to restore wild populations. For current stocking programs, lake sturgeon are raised with raw/live feed, which causes stocking programs to be expensive and difficult to maintain due to special care required for managing live feed and decreased control on biosecurity. To address these drawbacks, we replaced raw feed with formulated feed and develop a biosecured and sustainable feed management program for the culture of lake sturgeon. A series of feeding trials were conducted to study the effects of different feeds (Artemia, formulated feed, combination diet with Artemia and formulated feed) and feeding rate on the survival and growth performance of lake sturgeon. Our results showed that early acclimation (from the beginning of exogenous feeding) of lake sturgeon to a formulated feed improved their acceptance of formulated feed. In lake sturgeon with body weights ranging from 3.6-80 g, the selected formulated feed decreased their body weight from 7.6 to 3.5% per day. Lipid storage in the whole body of lake sturgeon was significantly influenced (P<0.05) by different feeding rates, with a lower lipid level in the fish fed at a suboptimal feeding rate. The changes in nutritional status of sturgeon may potentially affect their response to temperature challenges.