Improving the quality of tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon through dietary incorporation of algae as a source of natural pigment

Abstract

Tiger shrimp is one of the major candidate species for export oriented aquaculture which dominates the seafood market in regions of European Union, Japan and USA. Carotenoid content in seafood has now become one of the important criteria in determining the quality of edible product. Recent trends in supplementing fish diets with natural pigment source are an alternative to the utilization of expensive synthetic pigments. In this context, green algae Enteromorpha intestinalis was selected as a source of natural pigment for inclusion in the diet of tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon. Astaxanthin being an important category of carotenoid pigment was monitored in shrimp muscle tissue during the feeding trial. Significant variation (p<0.05) was observed between the experimental groups as confirmed through ANOVA thus exhibiting higher astaxanthin content of shrimps (18.70 Å} 4.48 ppm) fed with E. intestinalis incorporated diet as compared to control (15.80 Å} 2.33 ppm). The present programme therefore emphasizes on the quality improvement of aquaculture product by dietary inclusion of algae as a natural pigment source.