Effect of Different Levels of Dietary Vitamin C on Growth Performance, Muscle Composition, Antioxidant and Enzyme Activity of Macrobrachium rosenbergii

A 12- week feeding trial was conducted to determine the effects of dietary vitamin C levels on the growth performance, antioxidant ability, muscle composition and enzyme activity in freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii. The experimental basal diets were supplemented with M. rosenbergii at the rates of 0 (control), 25, 50, 75, 150 and 300 mg/kg dry feed weight and the assays were in triplicate. Growth performance, body composition, antioxidant activity and serum biochemistry parameters were determined. However, the present investigation revealed that prawns fed with diet supplemented with 25–150 mg/kg of vitamins C shows enhanced (P < 0.05) growth performance, including final weight and weight gain. Additionally, prawns fed with 25–150 mg/kg of vitamins C supplemented diets achieved significant (P < 0.05) improvement in growth performance, digestive enzyme activities, and muscle biochemical composition, while, the prawns fed with 150 mg/kg of vitamin C showed enhanced performance respectively. However, the prawns fed with above 150–300 mg/kg showed poor performance. The antioxidant enzymatic activity (SOD, CAT) metabolic enzyme status in muscle showed no significant (P > 0.05) alterations in prawns fed with 25–150 mg/kg of vitamin C supplemented diets. Therefore, the present findings suggested that 150 mg/kg of vitamin C could be supplemented for flexible enhanced survival, growth, antioxidant defense system and production of M. rosenbergii. © 2016, The National Academy of Sciences, India.