Effect of Dietary Astaxanthin on Growth, Survival, and Stress Tolerance of Postlarval Shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei

Abstract

The effect of dietary astaxanthin on growth, survival, and stress tolerance was determined in postlarval Litopenaeus vannamei. An experiment was performed with postlarval shrimp (mean initial wet weight 1.2 mg) fed four isoenergic and isonitrogenous diets containing four supplemented levels of astaxanthin (0, 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg diet, respectively). Shrimp fed diets containing 100, 200, and 400 mg astaxanthin/kg diet for 30 d showed higher weight gain (WG, %) and survival compared to the control (without supplementation of astaxanthin). Specific growth rate (SGR, %/day) and final body wet weight (FBW, mg) showed the same pattern as WG. There were no significant differences in growth performance (FBW, WG, and SGR) among the groups fed the diets with astaxanthin supplementation at the termination of feeding trial. Survival of shrimp in the control and 100 mg/kg diet treatments was significantly lower than that of shrimp in the treatments with 200 and 400 mg/kg diet. After 9 d of a stress tolerance test, survival of shrimp in the 200 and 400 mg astaxanthin/kg treatments was significantly higher than that of shrimp in the 0 and 100 mg astaxanthin/kg treatments (P < 0.05). We concluded from this experiment that astaxanthin was a necessary ingredient for the development of larval L. vannamei. Considering the effect of astaxanthin on both, growth performance and survival of postlarval L. vannamei, the level of astaxanthin supplemented in the diet should be between 100 mg and 200 mg/kg of diet.

Astaxanthin as feed supplement in aquatic animals

“…Niu et al . () observed similar improvements in weight gain and survival of P. vannamei fed either 100, 200 or 400 mg astaxanthin kg −1 diet for 30 days compared to the control diet without astaxanthin inclusion. In another study, larval P. vannamei gained considerable body weight during 28th week after feeding on 125 or 150 mg astaxanthin kg −1 feed surpassed those fed with 25, 50, 75 or 100 mg astaxanthin kg −1 feed comparatively, but survival was not affected (Zhang et al .…”

“…A positive effect of dietary astaxanthin supplementation (100–400 mg kg −1 diet) on stress tolerance of P. vannamei postlarvae to low dissolved oxygen conditions (0.8–1 mg L −1 ) was also identified by Niu et al . (). Dietary astaxanthin supplementation between 125 and 150 mg kg −1 diet throughout a period of 8 weeks stimulated higher total antioxidant status (TAS) and tolerance of P. vannamei which suffered from low dissolved oxygen stress (0.8 mg L −1 ) besides upregulating hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1α (HIF‐1α), cytosolic manganese superoxide dismutase (cMnSOD) and catalase (CAT) mRNA expression levels (Zhang et al .…”

“…), kuruma prawn P. japonicus (Chien & Shiau ), pacific white shrimp P. vannamei (Niu et al . ; Zhang et al . ), Atlantic cod G. morhua (Sawanboonchun et al .…”

Dietary β‐carotene improves growth performance and antioxidant status of juvenilePiaractus mesopotamicus

“…Among the biological functions of carotenoids in aquaculture, the antioxidant properties can be closely associated with stress resistance. An enhancement of resistance to dissolved oxygen depletion stress (Niu et al, ), salinity and thermal stress (Chien, Pan, & Hunter, ; Meng et al, ), and pollution and pathological stress (Amar, Kiron, Akutsu, Satoh, & Watanabe, ; Elseady & Zahran, ; Pan, Chien, & Hunter, ) in aquatic organisms was associated with an increase in dietary and body carotenoids. Then, the application of this kind of dietary antioxidant could provide valuable new, secure and efficient rearing techniques for farm aquaculture in the near future.…”

Potential for green microalgae to produce hydrogen, pharmaceuticals and other high value products in a combined process

“…An astaxanthin- canthaxanthin- and β-carotene supplemented diet enhances pigmentation of organisms such as domesticated shrimp, red sea bream, salmon, trout, sea urchin, lobster and ornamental fish (Baker et al , 2002; Barclay et al , 2006; Choubert, 2010; Gouveia et al , 2002; Gouveia and Empis, 2003; Shpigel et al , 2006; Tejera et al , 2007). Astaxanthin has also been shown to be essential for growth and survival during the initial feeding period of shrimp, salmon and trout (Lakeh et al , 2010; Lorenz and Cysewski, 2000; Niu et al , 2009). …”