Importance of carotenoids in shrimp growth.

 Hello everyone:

       Today we will see about importance of carotenoids in shrimp diet. I already told, we are not culturing our shrimp in their original environment and culture also depends on artificial diets. So we must ensure to provide sufficient amount of all nutrients in shrimp diet.

Carotenoids:

        All are heard about the pigments. It is a colour causing pigments. In shrimp body, some of pigment containing chromatophores cells are present. They are serve as pigment reserve. The physical attractiveness of shrimp is depends on the presence of pigments in their body. It is present in various colours. Shrimps are not able synthesize pigments but it can produce pigments from others.

         If shrimp eats natural algae means, it can get all essential pigments from this algae. Example: some microalgae like Haematococcus pluvialis have high amount of astaxanthin. Dunaliella Salina have high beta carotene.

  Carotenoids - 1.carotene ( oxygen free molecules)

Carotenoids contains alpha, beta, gamma carotenes.

                          - 2.Xanthophyll ( oxygen containing molecules).

Xanthophyll - Astaxanthin, cryptoxanthin.....

In these, astaxanthin is the major important for the shrimps. It have various function in the body. It is a red colour pigment. But, it can produce various colour after complexed with the proteins. 

        These pigments are fat soluble in nature. Fat present in the feed also causes loss of pigments in the diet. Carotenoids are not directly absorbed by the body. Before that it is dispersed in lipids and solubilized and then mixed with bile salts. Bile also important for the absorption of pigments in shrimp body.

         Carotenoids are very important for broodstocks. It improves egg quality and improves larva survival.

Carotenoids serve as intracellular oxygen reserve. Under the hypoxic condition, it helps for better survival.

     In broodstocks, it is better to give pigments supplementes diet. In hatchery using the frozen forms of feeds like polychaetes, krill, mussels... Anyway polychaetes have high pigments. Under these situations also, sometimes, bleaching of eggs occurs. It is mainly due to deficiency of pigments.

     Sometimes, pigments deficiency causes sudden death of larvae at zoea stage. From zoea 1 - zoea 2 , it is mostly occurs. It is called pigments deficiency syndrome.  Many researches told, after the inclusion of pigments in the diet, these types of syndromes not occurs.

 Presence of pigments increases the fast maturation. It increases the reproduction capacity of an animal. It promotes immune response. It increases the better larval development.

Did you know?

     Astaxanthin have 50 - 100 times more capability than vitamin E in the antioxidantal property. So it is an important antioxidant also. It also inhibits lipid peroxidation. It also plays major role the development of eggs in shrimp.

      It have anti-inflammatory function. The deficiency of pigments in diet causes blue disease. But it is curable one, after inclusion of pigments in diet it will cure. Most of the pigments also serve as a precursors of vitamin A in the animal body.

       Excess of carotenoids also causes problem in digestibility of an animal.  These are the various functions of carotenoids in shrimp. In broodstocks unit, it is very important for the better larval development.... It is also ivolves in photoprotection process. It prevents the damage of cells from excess sunlight....

                                Thank you 😊.