Seaweed Incorporated Diet Improves Astaxanthin Content of Shrimp Muscle Tissue

Marine shrimp (Penaeus monodon) is one of the major candidate species for export oriented aquaculture which dominates the seafood market in regions of European Union, Southeast Asia and USA. Carotenoid rich seafood has now become one of the important criteria in determining the quality of the product to be exported. Recent trends in supplementing fish diets with natural pigment source is an alternative to the utilization of expensive synthetic pigments. In this context, green seaweed Enteromorpha intestinalis was selected as a source of carotenoid for inclusion in the formulated diet of 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 ± 4.48 ppm) fed with seaweed incorporated diet as compared to control (15.80 ± 2.33 ppm). The present experiment therefore emphasizes on the quality improvement of aquaculture product through dietary inclusion of seaweed as a source of astaxanthin.