Cyclical fasting and refeeding is not an advisable feeding strategy for white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei)

Abstract This study investigated the effects of cyclical fasting and refeeding on growth performance, digestibility, muscle composition and mTOR signaling pathway of Penaeus vannamei. Three feeding strategies were designed: feeding everyday of a week (control); fasting one day and refeeding six days of a week (F1), fasting two days and refeeding five days of a week (F2). Shrimp with initial body weight of 6.52 ± 0.46 g was used for feeding strategy experiments. The stocking density was 20 shrimps (130.4 g biomass) per 100 L seawater. There were no significant differences in growth performance (final weight, weight gain and specific growth ratio), muscle composition (moisture, crude protein, crude lipid and ash contents) and digestive enzyme activity (trypsin, α-amylase and lipase) among three treatments (P > 0.05). However, survival rate of control treatment was significantly higher than that of F1 and F2 treatments (P