The development of compound feeds for Australian red – claw crayfish with the replacement of fish meal with a protein component of microbial origin

In the course of the research, starter and production feed for Australian red-tipped crayfish were developed, containing 20% and 15% of the feed additive DREAMFEED®, respectively. At the same time, the amount of protein in the experimental compound feeds was 67%; fat – 10%, total energy – 20 MJ. Long-term cultivation of crayfish in optimal conditions on experimental feed showed higher growth rates at the first stage of cultivation – the absolute increase in the experimental group was 11.57% higher than the control group, the average daily increase was 0.01 g, the average daily growth rate was 0.18%, and the mass accumulation coefficient was 0.003 units. At the second stage of cultivation, the average daily growth rate decreased significantly in both groups by 60-64% compared to the first months of cultivation. This was also reflected in the mass accumulation coefficient, which also showed a decrease of 29-35%. Most likely, this is due to the formation of a hard chitins carpace, as well as due to the fact that in conditions of limited space, one or two individuals become dominant in groups. Among the individuals of the experimental group, there was a smaller weight variation at each stage of cultivation.