Abstract

The main bottleneck for the development of technology for Atlantic halibut culture in Chile, as in the rest of the world, is the supply of juveniles. This the high mortalities of early life stages observed during incubation and larval rearing, seems to be related to a high variability in egg quality, measured in terms of quantity, quality and broodstock diets mainly associated to the level and ratio of high unsaturated fatty acids long chains (HUFAs). In the present study, the effect of a higher level of HUFAs n-3 and n-3/n-6 ratio in the diet (treatment n-3+) compared to a control diet (standard diet) was evaluated on plasma HUFA levels of broodstocks, eggs and larvae produced. In addition, reproductive performance, as fertilization, hatching rate and larval survival was also studied. Broodstocks were fed for 8 months with these two diets. The control and n-3+ diets had an inclusion level of HUFAs n-3 of 3.3 and 4.6% respectively, and dietary n-3+ had a 27% greater balance n-3/n-6 that diet control. The results show that these differences were maintained in the composition and balance of HUFAs n-3 and n-3 / n-6 in eggs and larva produced (Fig. 1). Moreover, hatching and larval survival rate of n-3+ group was higher than the control (P˂0.05). Therefore, our study indicates that the inclusion of more HUFAs n-3 and n-3/n-6 ratio diet in broodstocks fed for a long period of time (8 months), caused significant differences in the biochemical profile of plasma and also improved hatching and larval survival rate of offspring produced, when compared to the control group