Nutritional requirement of the Chinese mitten-handed crab Eriocheir sinensis juvenile for arginine and lysine

Feeding experiments were conducted using amino acid test diets to determine the optimal dietary requirement for arginine and lysine of the Chinese mitten-handed crab Eriocheir sinensis juvenile. Crab megalopae with an average weight of 6.86 mg were randomly assigned to different tanks and reared on six experimental diets for 25 d. The six experimental diets were formulated for different combinations of arginine (0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 g per 100-g diet) and lysine (0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5 g per 100-g diets), respectively. Survival and molting frequency were calculated at the termination of feeding trials. Optimal arginine and lysine requirements were determined by the diets at which the highest survival and molting frequency was reached. The highest survival and molting frequency were 41.75% and 2.4, respectively, and were reached when the crabs were fed with 2% arginine. After juveniles were fed with the diets with 2.55% lysine, survival was the highest (44.0%) and the molting frequency was 2.31. We suggest that the requirement of juvenile crabs for arginine is 2.0% in diet or 3.3% of dietary protein, and the requirement for lysine is 2.55% in diet or 4.25% of dietary protein. This study provides critical information in formulating cost-effective aquaculture diets for the Chinese mitten-handed crab juvenile.