What question did this study set out to answer?

This study aims to assess the impact of replacing fish meal with Pacific krill meal on growth and immunity in juvenile mud crabs.

April 27, 2026Aquaculture Reports0 citationsOpen Access

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Towards sustainable mud crab (Scylla paramamosain) aquaculture: Pacific krill (Euphausia pacifica) meal as a partial replacement for fish meal

BZBinjie ZhouNingbo University TXTiantian XuNingbo University CHChaokai HuangNingbo University

Key Points

This study aims to assess the impact of replacing fish meal with Pacific krill meal on growth and immunity in juvenile mud crabs.
Juvenile crabs were fed for 8 weeks with diets containing 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, or 40% PKM substituting FM protein.
Growth was measured through final body weight, weight gain, and feed efficiency.
Antioxidant activities and immune responses were evaluated through gene expression and enzyme activity assays.
Crabs with 10-20% PKM replacement showed significantly improved growth metrics, including weight gain and specific growth rate.
At 20% PKM, notable increases in antioxidant enzyme activities and up-regulation of immune-related genes were observed.
The optimal replacement level of FM with PKM for growth was found to be approximately 18.59%.

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of partially replacing fish meal (FM) with Pacific krill meal (PKM) on growth, pigment deposition, protein metabolism, antioxidant capacity, and immune response in juvenile mud crab ( Scylla paramamosain ). Juvenile crabs (initial weight 13.19 ± 0.08 g) were fed five isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets for 8 weeks, in which PKM protein replaced 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, or 40% of FM protein. The results confirmed that the concentrations of fluorine and heavy metals in the diets and muscle were all within their respective safe limits. Crabs fed diets with 10–20% replacement of FM with PKM showed markedly enhanced final body weight, percent weight gain, specific growth rate and feed efficiency. Crabs fed diets with 20% replacement of FM with PKM exhibited significantly higher activities of CAT, AKP and ACP in the hemolymph, GPx, CAT and SOD in the hepatopancreas, along with up-regulated expression of antioxidant genes ( trx , cat , Cu/Zn sod ). The expression levels of protein metabolism-related genes and proteins were markedly up-regulated with increasing PKM inclusion. Moreover, the dietary PKM inclusion mediated the activation of the Toll and IMD pathways and upregulated the expression of the immune-related gene proPO , thereby enhancing the innate immunity of mud crabs. Based on percent weight gain, the two-slope broken-line regression model indicated that indicated that the optimal replacement level of FM with PKM was determined to be 18.59%. Overall, partial replacement of FM with PKM enhanced growth, protein synthesis, antioxidant defense, and immunological function for juvenile mud crabs. • The optimal replacement of FM with PKM was 18.59% based on PWG. • Dietary PKM stimulated protein metabolism by activating the mTOR signaling pathway. • A 20% replacement of FM with PKM enhanced antioxidant and immune responses. • Excessive PKM supplementation can lead to tissue damage and redox imbalance. • No safety hazards were observed in diets or muscle tissue with up to 40% replacement of FM.

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Cite This Study

Zhou et al. (Fri,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69eefc6dfede9185760d373f https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aqrep.2026.103613

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