TITLE:
Rearing Performance of Atlantic Salmon Grown in Circular Tanks with Vertically-Suspended Environmental Enrichment
AUTHORS:
Misty D. Jones, Eric Krebs, Nathan Huysman, Jill M. Voorhees, Michael E. Barnes
KEYWORDS:
Salmonids, Growth, Salmo salar, Vertically-Suspended Array
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Animal Sciences,
Vol.9 No.2,
April
19,
2019
ABSTRACT: Environmental enrichment is the incorporation of
materials into hatchery tanks to simulate a more natural rearing environment.
This study investigated the use of a vertically-suspended plastic conduit array
as enrichment in 3.63 m circular tanks during Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) rearing. After 168 days,
feed conversion ratio was significantly improved for salmon reared in tanks
with enrichment compared to the barren control tanks. Final tank weights and
weight gain were not significantly different, although the difference in mean
gain of 182.0 kg in the enriched tanks compared to 162.9 kg in the control
tanks approached significance. There were no significant differences in
individual fish length, weight, or condition factor between the treatments,
likely because of large variances in body size due to sexual dimorphism and
small sample sizes. The suspended array did not interfere with the hydraulic
self-cleaning of the circular tanks. The results of this study support the use
of vertically-suspended structures to improve the hatchery rearing performance
of Atlantic salmon in circular tanks.