Ref ID : 7845
L.I. Lebedeva and O.N. Orlenko; Feeding Rate of Brachionus plicatilis O.F. Muller on Two Types of Food Depending on Ambient Temperature and Salinity. Int.Revue ges.Hydrobiol. 80(1):77-87, 1995
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Feeding rates of Brachionus plicatilis were studied for two types of food - algae Monochrysis lutheri and baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisae. The main regularities of changes in filtration rate and ration were studied in small culture volumes (1 ml) for adult amicitic females depending on food concentration (1, 2, 4, 8 and 16x10E6 cells ml-1), ambient temperature (16 and 26 degrees C), and salinity (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 ppt). B. plicatilis ration did not depend on the salinity, but was largely determined by temperature and food concentration. It was found that at 16 and 26 degrees C the dependence of the ingestion rate (ration) on food concentration differed greatly. A hypothesis was suggested to explain this phenomenon. A critical concentration of both types of food at which the increase in the rotifer ration ceased is 4x10E6 cells ml-1. This is the minimum "background" food concentration for B. plicatilis mass cultivation. The average rations measured at the concentration of M. lutheri and S. cerevisae of 4x10E6 cells ml-1 where 1.3+/-0.1 and 4.8+/-1.3 µg dry weight. ind.-1 day-1 at 26 degrees C and 0.54+/-0.1 and 1.9 µg d.w. ind.-1 day-1 at 16 degrees C, respectively. The rations obtained in the laboratory were corrected for the conditions of rotifer commercial production in the open field in summer time. The correct values were 0.86 and 0.72 µg d.w. ind.-1 day-1 for algae and yeast, respectively.