Optimize your oxygen...The effect of differing levels of oxygen saturation on growth and metabolic rate of Arctic charr

摘要

The availability of oxygen is one of the most important water quality parameters in aquaculture, and in intensive culture systems oxygen is added to the water to reduce overall water requirement and ensure adequate oxygen availability. It is importantto maintain dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration at levels that are sufficient to support the metabolism of the fish, and maximize growth.This issue was addressed in a paper presented by Christian Beuvard at the Aquaculture Europe conference held in San Sebastian, Spain, last year. Beuvard, a PhD student, and his professor Helgi Thorarensen, from the Holar Agricultural College (www.holar.is), Sau3arkrokur, Iceland, described a study that examined the long-term effects of DO concentration on feeding, growth and metabolism of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus), and determined the concentration needed for optimum growth. Clearly, providing more oxygen than is actually required, simply increases costs.