Validation of a bioenergetic model for juvenile salmonid hatchery production using growth data from independent laboratory feeding studies

• We applied a bioenergetic model for salmonid production to published data.
• We compared model simulations with lab feeding studies for coho and Chinook salmon.
• Model consumption rate for two coho salmon strains varied with stomach size.
• Model respiration rate for Chinook salmon was adjusted for body lipid content.
• Simulations matched growth data for eight combinations of ration, diet, and strain.

The long-term goal of this research program is to develop and validate bioenergetic models for juvenile salmonid production oriented toward practical hatchery applications. As an initial step toward attainment of this goal, the efficacy of the model was evaluated by comparing model simulations with published data for the growth of a wild strain of coho salmon and a domestic strain selected for its rapid growth characteristics. Model simulations were consistent with the observed growth for each strain when the consumption rate model coefficient was adjusted to account for differences in the stomach size. In an independent study, the growth and proximate composition of juvenile Chinook salmon were measured in response to high and low lipid diets supplied at two different feeding rates. Model simulations were closely comparable to these data when the model coefficients for consumption and apparent respiration rate were adjusted to account for ration and body lipid content. These insights and the successful simulation of measured growth data for eight different combinations of ration, food composition, and coho strain are useful and necessary steps needed to support the development of credible production-scale management models for juvenile salmonid fish production and waste by-product generation from aquaculture and mariculture activities.