A new approach to feed frequency studies and protein intake regulation in juvenile pirarucu

• Autor(a) principal: MATTOS,BRUNO O. DE
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: NASCIMENTO FILHO,EDUARDO C.T., SANTOS,ALINE A., BARRETO,KAYCK A., SÁNCHEZ-VÁZQUEZ,FRANCISCO J., FORTES-SILVA,RODRIGO
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0001-37652017000301243
• topic: Arapaima gigas; feeding behavior; protein intake; self-feeding

ABSTRACT This study aimed to investigate pirarucu's (Arapaima gigas) ability to trigger a self-feeding system to regulate protein intake between two standard diets that contained 39% and 49% of crude protein. The same system allowed the evaluation of daily feeding and locomotor activity rhythms. Eighteen fish (654.44±26.85g) were distributed into six 250 L tanks (3 fish/tank). Fish had free access to both diets (39% vs. 49% protein) by feeders (2 per tank), adapted to be activated by fish themselves. This system was connected to a computer system. After an adaptation period, fish learned to activate feeders and the mean food intake recorded was 2.14% of their body weight on a daily basis. Fish showed feeding (72.48%) and locomotor (72.49%) activity predominantly during the daytime, and daily variations of choice between diets, but fixed a protein intake feeding target at 44.53%. These results should be considered when discussing feeding behavior, feeding schedules and diet intake regulations.