The Assimilation of Nutrients from Compounded Diets by the PrawnsPalaemon SerratusandPandalus Platyceros

Abstract

Assimilation efficiency (percentage of nutrients absorbed) from diets compounded from dry food meals was investigated using the prawnsPalaemon serratusPennant andPandalus platycerosBrandt. An indirect ratio method using chromic oxide (Cr₂O₃) as an inert reference material in the diet was employed, but the method was complicated by the prawns' habit of regurgitating part of the indigestible food remains after a meal. Thus quantitative collection of both faeces and the regurgitated, unassimilated food fraction was necessary.