EVALUATION OF THE DIETARY ESSENTIALITY OF VITAMINS FOR PENAEUS MONODON
H.R.V. Reddy, M. Ganapathi Naik, T.S. Annappaswamy-1999
Aquaculture Nutrition, 5: 267-276
Abstract:
The effect of deletion of individual water-soluble (thiamin, riboflavin, pyridoxine, cyanocobalamin, pantothenic acid, folic acid, niacin, biotin, choline, inositol and ascorbic acid) and fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E and K) in semipurified diets on growth and survival of juvenile shrimp, Penaeus monodon, was studied in the laboratory for 8 weeks. Diets lacking riboflavin and vitamin K did not affect growth and survival of shrimp. However, deletion of inositol and choline in the diet resulted in poor growth. Maximum growth was observed in the control diet (C1) supplemented with all vitamins. Diets deficient in ascorbic acid, biotin, folic acid, niacin, thiamin and alpha-tocopherol resulted in poor appetite and poorer feed conversion efficiency. All treatments except the control (C1) resulted in histopathological changes in the digestive gland cells. Detachment or destruction of the epithelial cells was observed in all treatments lacking individual vitamins but more severely in the treatment without a vitamin supplement, followed by inositol, choline and ascorbic acid deficient diets.
(University of Agricultural Sciences, College of Fisheries, Mathsyanagar, Mangalore, India)
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