Assessing the effects of feeding strategies on growth of hybrid bluegill

Clifton R. Sager and Dana L. Winkelman
Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit 404 Life Sciences West Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK 74078, (405) 744-6342 (405) 744-5006 danaw@okstate.edu

The compensatory growth response has recently been shown to increase growth in hybrid bluegill (F1 male Lepomis macrochirus X female L. cyanellus). However commercial feeds were not used in these experiments. The current study evaluates growth rates of hybrid bluegill fed commercial diets (45% protein) on cycling no feed periods (2 or 4 days, D2 and D4 respectively), followed by ad libitum refeed periods. Refeeding continued as long as daily weight specific consumption of treatment fish was significantly higher than controls fed ad libitum daily. Absolute growth rates of controls and D2 treatments were significantly higher than that of D4 treatments. Gross growth efficiency of controls and D2 treatments was also higher than that of D4 treatments. These results contradict earlier studies and suggest that no feed / refeed cycles need further assessment as an aquaculture strategy.