Long-term effects of vermicompost manure leachate (powder) inclusions on growth and survival, biochemical composition, total carotenoids, and broodstock reproductive performance of Artemia franciscana (Kellogg, 1906) Saeid Vahdat 1 & Abolghasem Esmaeili Fereidouni 2 & Mohammad Kazem Khalesi 2 Received: 3 March 2017 /Accepted: 21 December 2017 # Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Long-term effects of different levels of dietary vermicompost manure leachate pow- der (VCL) were investigated on the nauplii growth and survival, biochemical composition, total carotenoids, and reproductive performance of broodstock Artemia franciscana in laboratory cultures. The instar I nauplii were fed in five treatments including 100% of the microalga Dunaliella salina (Alg; control group, with a density of 18 × 10 6 cells mL -1 ) and mixtures of 75% Alg-25% VCL, 50% Alg-50% VCL, 25% Alg-75% VCL, and 100% VCL for 3 weeks. At maturity, 35 pairs (males and females) were individually isolated from each treatment and transferred to 50-mL falcon tubes in which the reproduction and longevity of females were monitored until mortality. Results showed that the total length of Artemia in the control, 75 Alg- 25 VCL, and 50 Alg-50 VCL treatments was significantly different from the other groups at the end of the 2nd and 3rd weeks. The pre-puberty survival rate was severely affected by the increased dietary levels of VCL declining from 52% (control) to 6.7% (100 VCL). The adults’ body protein levels in the control and 75 Alg-25 VCL (54–57%) were similar, but both groups were significantly different from the other treatments. However, the lipid content (13.7–19.8%) and total carotenoids (36.5–47.7 μg mg -1 ) were significantly different between treatments. Many broodstocks’ reproductive characteristics were affected by the diet so that the total number of offspring in the control was markedly higher than the other groups. However, the number of offspring per brood revealed no differences between the control and 75 Alg-25 VCL treatment, Aquacult Int https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-017-0232-0 * Abolghasem Esmaeili Fereidouni a.esmaeili@sanru.ac.ir 1 Faculty of Animal Sciences and Fisheries, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University (SANRU), Sari, Iran 2 Fisheries Department, Faculty of Animal Sciences and Fisheries, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University (SANRU), Km 9, KhazarAbad, P.O.Box 578, Sari, Iran