In global aquaculture industry, shrimp farming plays a key role and microalgae signify a vital part. The present study focussed to analyse the influence of dietary inclusion of Aurantiochytrium sp. MBTDCMFRIJMVL1, a heterotrophic marine protist as well as co-feeding with Artemia, on the growth and survival in black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). The nutritive quality, with a total protein content of 54% and total fat content of 26% on dry matter basis along with good fatty acid profile and carotenoids makes Aurantiochytrium sp. a promising candidate for aquaculture nutrition. In the present study, three type of micro diets were designed (iso11-nitrogenous and isolipidic) with 50% crude protein and 8% crude fat viz., control diet (C), 1% inclusion of algae (T1) and 2% inclusion of algae (T2) and fed to the post larvae (PL) of P. monodon. There were six treatments in triplicate as follows; control (C), control accompanied by co-feeding with Artemia nauplii (C + A), 1% dietary inclusion of algae (T1), T1 with co-feeding (T1 + A), 2% dietary inclusion of algae (T2) and T2 along with co-feeding (T2 + A). 3600 numbers of PL with average length and weight 4.98 +/- 0.13 mm and 1.51 +/- 0.05 mg, respectively were randomly stocked in 18 rectangular glass tanks of 20 L water holding capacity with 200 PL in each tank and maintained at a salinity of 25%o. After the experimental period of 28 days, a better growth performance, survival rate, stress tolerance, nutritional quality and metabolic enzyme profile of the larvae were observed in 'T2 + A' when compared to other treatments, while the lowest performance was observed in 'C'. This study also concluded that, co-feeding with Artemia greatly enhanced the improvements brought by algal supplementation. Algal supplementation in the micro diet of P. monodon improved disease resistance against Vibrios. The fatty acid profile of PL28 were influenced due to algal supplementation. The levels of palmitic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were higher and significantly different (P < 0.05) in P. monodon fed with algal supplemented diet, which reflected the fatty acid profile of Aurantiochytrium sp. This experiment revealed that dietary incorporation of Aurantiochytrium sp. at 2% level can significantly improve the growth, survival, nutritional quality and tolerance to stress in P. monodon post larvae suggesting its potential application in aquaculture.
