The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of different dietary levels of
tropical marine brown macroalgae, Sargassum cristaefolium meal (SCM) on growth
performance and feed utilization efficiency of juvenile white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei
(mean initial weight 2.65±0.1 g). The algae were collected from Bandengan Coast, Jepara,
Indonesia. The study used a completely randomized design with 5 treatments of dietary
different S. cristaefolium meal levels (0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 g algae meal/kg feed) in triplicates.
The results showed that the different levels of dietary SCM did not significantly affect
(P>0.05) average daily growth (ADG;.204-224 mg/day) and survival (80-97%) of the shrimp
after a 42-day feeding period. However, the test diets significantly affected (P<0.05) feed
intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and protein efficiency ratio (PER). Better FCR (2.13)
and PER (1.34) was found by the diet with 2% SCM compared to the control diet (no SCM)
(FCR 3.42 and PER 0.81). This finding indicates that the supplement of dietary 2% SCM (20
g/ kg feed) can increase the feed utilization efficiency up to 62% or reduce the FCR up to 38%
without any adverse in growth performance
