Influence of Dietary Supplementation of Carotenoid (Diacetate of Lutein-Mesozeaxanthin) On Growth Performance, Biochemical Body Composition in Freshwater Prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbrgii

The aim of this study was to evaluate effects of one of the carotenoids (diacetate of lutein-mesozeaxanthin) on growth performance, proximate composition of body and water quality in freshwater prawn, M. rosenbergii in fiber reinforced plastic tanks (120 l capacity) for 60 days in a recirculatory aquaculture system. Uniform sized PL of M. rosenbergii with an average range of weight (0.32 to 0.37g) was used for the study. The study was carried out in triplicate groups and prawns were stocked at the rate of 50 numbers per tank. Three test diets namely T 1 , T 2 and T 3 with 35% protein content were formulated. Diet T1 had 60ppm, T1 had 120ppm and T3 had 180 ppm Diacetate of lutein-mesozeaxanthin and diet without diacetate of luteinmesozeaxanthin supplementation served as control (T0). Growth parameters and survival factors were analyzed at the end of feeding trial. After 60 days, weight gain (1.238±0.07), Specific Growth Rate (2.53±0.05), Feed Efficiency Rate (0.440±0.00), Protein Efficiency Rate (1.259±0.00), Survival Rate (80.00±12.02), Percentage of Mean Weight Gain (356.77±0.65), Daily Growth Rate (5.94±0.21), Daily Growth Index (0.77±0.08), Growth Coefficient (1.630±0.05) were higher in prawns fed the Diacetate of lutein-mesozeaxanthin added diets compared to control and lower feed conversion ratio (2.26±0.01) was observed in T3. The best results of M. rosenbergii in terms of growth factors were recorded in treatment T3 followed by T2, T1, T0, and significant differences (P 0.05) between them with regard to survival rate. There were no significant differences in water quality and proximate composition among different treatments. These findings demonstrated the dietary carotenoid (diacetate of lutein-mesozeaxanthin) can be used for enhancing of growth in M. rosenbergii, but no effect on survival, water quality and proximate composition.