Slaughter yield and chemical composition of Siberian sturgeon reared in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS)

Abstract

Sturgeon fish species are food fish of commercial significance in many countries. Sturgeon farming in Serbia is a relatively new branch of aquaculture, and sturgeon farming has been developing in the last several years. The objective of this study was to examine morpho-physiological and slaughter characteristics and proximate composition of one-year-old sturgeons produced in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Sturgeons were cultured in a RAS system nearby Novi Sad and were fed with commercial feed. Moisture content in fillets ranged from 75.63 to 77.91%, protein content from 18.06 to 18.89% and lipid content from 2.37 to 4.38%. The slaughter performance results are in agreement with those reported by various authors for different strains of sturgeons. Sturgeon species have potential to become an attractive fish in our aquaculture in terms of overall proximate composition and slaughter performance.