Improvement of Diets for Alligator Aquaculture

摘要

Alligator farming is a well-developed industry in Louisiana that currently contributes about US$60 million of farm-gate value to the state's agricultural economy. The industry is based on production of wild stock obtained under regulatory oversight ofthe Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) through its highly successful alligator management program. The LDWF permits farmers to raise alligators obtained from the wild and requires that a specified proportion of farmed animals be returned to the wild to maintain populations. Farmers collect eggs of American alligator Alligator mississippiensis during the nesting season and incubate them on their farms. Hatchlings are stocked into temperature-controlled production houses and raised toa marketable size of 1.25 m in about 16 months. Skins, which enter the luxury leather market, are the most valuable item produced, but alligator meat is also sold domestically throughout the United States and exported around the world.