Effect of different levels of dietary Sargassum cristaefolium on growth performance, hematological parameters, histological structure of hepatopancreas and intestinal microbiota of Litopenaeus vannamei

Abstract The effects of Sargassum cristaefolium dry biomass as a feed supplement on growth performance, hematological parameters, histology of hepatopancreas, and intestinal microbiota of Litopenaeus vannamei post larva were examined. Shrimp (0.011 ± 0.001 g) were fed diets containing different levels of S. cristaefolium powder (0 g /kg for the control group and then 5 g /kg, 10 g /kg, 20 g /kg, and 40 g /kg w/w for experiment groups). The animals (40 shrimp per tank) were stocked in 300 L polyethylene tanks in triplicate for 60 days. After 60 days feeding trial, the shrimp fed Sargassum powder showed no significant difference in growth performance compared to control group (p > 0.05). The B-cells number in the hepatopancreas of shrimp fed 10 and 20 g /kg of S. cristaefolium diets were significantly lower than those of shrimp fed the control diet. The highest prevalence of R-cells was observed in 10 and 20 g /kg groups, respectively (p   0.05). The total viable bacterial and Vibrio counts in the intestine of shrimp were gradually decreased when the level of S. cristaefolium was increased (p   0.05). The present study indicated that shrimp fed diets containing S. cristaefolium can significantly improve hematological parameters, R.cells, and inhibit Vibrio spp. in the intestine of L. vannamei.