Abstract

Six experimental diets were designed with two phospholipid (PL; 0% and 1.5%) and three fish oil levels (0%, 1% and 3%) to evaluate the effects of dietary fish oil and PL levels on growth, survival and fatty acid composition of juvenile swimming crab, Portunus trituberculatus. Diets were iso-energetic and iso-nitrogenous and each diet was fed to triplicate groups (initially weight, 24.88 ± 0.04 g per crab) for 59 days. Weight gain (WG) and specific growth rate (SGR) increased with dietary PL addition to 0% fish oil-supplemented diets (P < 0.05). On the other hand, WG and SGR decreased with dietary PL addition to 3% fish oil diets (P < 0.05). Crabs fed PL supplemented diets had higher haemolymph low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations and muscle crude lipid levels (P < 0.05) than crabs fed a none PL supplemented diet. The percentage of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA; % total FA) in both polar and neutral lipids fractions of muscle tissue only increased in case of PL addition to 0% and 1% fish oil-supplemented diets (P < 0.05). HUFA levels in the neutral lipids fraction of the hepatopancreas increased by dietary PL addition at each dietary fish oil level (P < 0.05). In this study, both dietary fish oil and PL addition contributed to a high n-3/n-6 ratio in muscle and hepatopancreas of P. trituberculatus. In conclusion, PL addition is only meaningful with fish oil-deficient diets, in which case it enhanced lipid transport and HUFA absorption efficiency, hence improving the nutritional value of the diet.

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