Effects of supplementation of shrimp head meal, chitin, chitosan and chitosan oligosaccharide in feed on the growth performance and survival in early post larval stages of Penaeus monodon (Fabricius 1798)

Supplementation of shrimp shell by-products (shrimp head meal and chitin) and chitin derivatives (chitosan and chitosan oligosaccharide) in shrimp feed on feed characteristics, growth, survival and whole body composition of early post larvae of giant tiger prawns (Penaeus monodon Fabricius, 1798) was investigated. Five iso-nitrogenous diets were formulated with feed supplements viz., control (diet 1), shrimp head meal (SHM) at 6% (diet 2), chitin 5% (diet 3); chitosan 0.2% (diet 4) and chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) 0.2% (diet 5). Physical properties and proximate composition of the prepared feeds were compared. The experimental feeding trial was carried out for 30 days on early stages of post larvae of P. monodon. Growth performance and survival (%) were determined on 15th and 30th days of growth trial. Whereas, wholebody composition of P. monodon was determined at the end of the experiment. Physical properties of experimental feeds showed significant difference (p<0.05) in expansion ratio and water stability. Whereas, bulk density did not differ significantly. Higher body protein and survival rate were obtained for post larvae fed with diet 2, however, better growth performance was recorded for diet 4 (p<0.05). Significantly improved average weight gain (AWG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR), feed efficiency (FE), and protein efficiency ratio (PER) values were obtained for diet 4 on the 15th and 30th days respectively (p<0.05). Shrimp supplemented with 0.2% of chitosan was found superior compared to other diets. in improving the growth performance, survival, and composition of early post larval stages of P. monodon.