| Artemia is widely distributed in inland salt lakes and coastal salt fields around the world, and is an extreme environmental organism that can withstand harsh environmental conditions. The dormant eggs, nauplii, and adults of Artemia contain abundant nutrients such as protein, fat, vitamins, amino acids, and fatty acids. Due to their high nutritional value and strong palatability, they have been used as high-quality biological bait in aquaculture for a long time. However, in addition to being used as bait for fish fry and shrimp fry, Artemia can also be used as a food ingredient. Native Americans collect large quantities of Artemia, which are dried and processed into food; Libyans regard Artemia as a high-quality protein source rich in beta carotene and riboflavin, and make bread for sale as a delicacy; There are also reports in China that use the enzymatic hydrolysate of Artemia eggs as raw materials to process amino acid beverages. Artemia has gradually shown great development prospects in the food industry. The growth of Artemia is mainly influenced by factors such as salinity, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and light. These factors also affect physiological functions such as osmotic pressure, oxygen consumption rate, ammonia excretion rate, and reproduction to a certain extent. Among them, salinity is an important factor affecting the physiological response of Artemia. Under salinity stress, the body of Artemia maintains its normal physiological functions by regulating osmotic pressure balance. The regulation of osmotic pressure balance mainly achieves ion transport through related metabolic enzymes and transporter proteins. This reverse transport process requires a large amount of energy, which comes from sugars, lipids, and proteins in the body. Therefore, the influence of salinity on the physiological functions of Artemia leads to changes in their nutritional composition, thereby affecting their growth performance and nutritional quality. Experiments were carried out in order to study the effect of different salinities on the growth performance and nutritional value of Artemia and explore the potential of Artemia as raw material to develop marine food. Artemia were cultured under four different salinities (30, 60, 90, 120) for 14 days. Their body length, biomass, basic nutritional components, amino acid composition, fatty acid composition, and mineral contents were measured and nutritional evaluations were conducted afterwards. Results showed that different salinities had significant impact on the body length of Artemia. The Artemia in the salinity 30group had the longest body length (2.05 cm) with an average growth rate of 0.93 mm/d and a specific growth rate of 7.65%, respectively. Different salinities had significant impact on the biomass of Artemia, with the highest biomass of 1.36 g in the salinity 90 group. Different salinities had significant effects on the nutritional composition of Artemia, with crude protein contents ranging from 28.94% to 47.27%, crude fat contents ranging from 5.89% to 13.62%, ash contents ranging from 24.63% to 34.28%, amino acids contents ranging from 16.05 g/100g to 37.22 g/100g, and fatty acid contents ranging from 2.05 g/100g to 5.49 g/100g.Among them, the salinity 30 group Artemia had the highest crude protein and amino acid contents, which were 47.27% and 37.22 g/100g, respectively. Artemia in salinity 30 group contained 8 essential amino acidswith essential amino acids accounting for 43.42% of total amino acids and flavor amino acids accounting for 49.52% of total amino acids,and the first limiting amino acid was cysteine + methionine. The content of glutamate, leucine, and arginine of Artemia in salinity 30 group was high, with a balanced amino acids composition and an amino acid score of 91.79, which is in line with the ideal protein model recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization. Artemiain salinity 120 group had the highest crude fat and fatty acid contents, whichwere 13.62% and 5.49 g/100g, respectively, and the contents of MUFA, PUFA, and EPA were 2.12 g/100g, 1.68 g/100g, and 1.13 g/100g, respectively. Different salinities had significant impact on mineral contents of Artemia, with the salinity 60group having the highest calcium, sodium, and iron contents, and the salinity90 group having the highest zinc content. In summary, the growth performance and nutritional value of Artemia in salinity 30 group were the best. At this salinity, the body ength and biomass of Artemia were high and the growth rate was fast, and the growth performance was good. The Artemia was rich in protein with balanced composition and delicious taste. Unsaturated fatty acids accounted for over 60% of the total fatty acids, while polyunsaturated fatty acids accounted for over 30% of the total fatty acids. The Artemia had high nutritional value and enormous potential in food industry. Artemia has high nutritional value and great potential in the food industry. China has abundant Artemia resources, reasonably and efficiently utilizing Artemia resources, research and development of Artemia related nutritional foods, and further extension of the Artemia industry chain will have great potential. |
