Influence of dietary chitosan on the meat composition, amino acid, fatty acid profiles and growth of the black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon)

The black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) is the second best cultivated crustacean species and is a significant export-earning source for South Asian countries. Its meat offers quality protein, and well-balanced essential amino acids. The present investigation is a pioneering attempt to delineate the nutritional composition, amino acid and fatty acid profiles of the meat of the cultured P. monodon fed with chitosan diet along with the growth performance. Penaeus monodon juveniles (initial weight of 0.056 g) were fed thrice daily for 105 days to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of chitosan at 0.2% level. Chitosan supplementation significantly improved growth performances, survival rate and low feed conversion ratio (p < 0.05). The chitosan-fed shrimps had higher compositions of the essential amino acids (tryptophan, phenylalanine, leucine, and lysine), enhanced saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, chitin nitrogen, total nitrogen, and crude protein content (77.29 ± 1.91%) but lowered crude fat content (17.02 ± 3.40%) compared to the control group. The study recommends chitosan supplementation at 0.2% in shrimp feed for enhanced growth and survival of the Penaeus monodon juveniles with superior meat quality and nutritional composition.