Dietary cholesterol level affects growth, molting performance and ecdysteroid signal transduction in Procambarus clarkii

Abstract The effects of dietary cholesterol supplementation on growth, molting performance and ecdysteroid signal transduction of juvenile crayfish Procambarus clarkii (initial weight = 3.55 ± 0.03 g) were evaluated over a 6-week feeding trial. The crude protein and lipid level of basal diet was targeted at 27% and 6%, respectively. Five levels of supplemented cholesterol (0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00%) resulted in diets analyzed to contain 0.06, 0.29, 0.54, 0.81, and 1.05% cholesterol. Final weight, weight gain, feed intake, molting times, molting rate, chitinase mRNA expression and hemolymphatic LDL-C content significantly increased (P