Piperine supplementation in diet improves growth, feed efficiency, innate immunity, digestibility and disease resistance of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)

Abstract

Piperine is a phytobiotic and a polyphenol-derived alkaloid compound extracted from the pepper. We evaluated the effects of dietary piperine on growth, feed utilization, innate immunity, digestibility and disease resistance of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. A control (Con) diet was formulated without piperine, and five other diets were prepared by supplementing graded piperine (purity 10 %) levels of 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 g/kg (P25, P50, P100, P200 and P400, respectively) to Con diet. Triplicate groups of shrimp were fed one of the diets four times daily for 53 days. A challenge test was conducted with Vibrio parahaemolyticus after the feeding trial. Growth performance, feed utilization and IGF-BP mRNA expression were significantly improved by the dietary supplementation of piperine. The dietary piperine supplementation significantly improved the non-specific immune responses and antioxidant status of shrimp. Protein, lipid and dry matter digestibility of the diets were significantly increased by piperine. The disease resistance of shrimp was also significantly enhanced against V. parahaemolyticus when fed P25 or P100 diets. Based on quadratic regression analysis, the optimal dietary piperine level was estimated to be 2.2 g/kg in diet. Therefore, these results indicate that piperine can be used as a feed additive to improve the growth, feed utilization, immunity, digestibility and disease resistance of Pacific white shrimp.