STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF CHOLESTEROL ADDITION TO THE SHRIMP DIET ON THE GROWTH AND FINISHING OF WHITE INDICUS PRAWN (PENAEUS INDICUS)

Abstract

Abstract. Population increase, enhancing demand for food, especially the optimal use of marine resources, low levels of production in shrimp farms, lack of planning, and pleasant nutrition in farms, requires that research projects on manual feeding in cultural farms of shrimp take place according to the conditions of each region. Recently, shrimp feeding in the world has been accompanied by various innovations in order to maximize the productivity of both the existing ecosystem and the physiological potential of this aquatic species. Cholesterol is one of the ingredients that, in addition to the urgent need for it to be used in the metabolic system to gain weight, as an essential nutrient, increases the number of molting and as a stimulantion for growth. In this regard, the present research, which is the first manual feeding in the Chah-Bahar region of Iran, evaluates the most appropriate and optimal amount of cholesterol in white indicus prawn (P.indicus) diets. In this research, different levels of artificial cholesterol levels of 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1% of total feed were added to the shrimp feed of Iranian commercially pellets by dissolving in refined and spray soybean oil and then, in a 100 day culturing period in semi-intensive system, the effects of these cholesterol levels were evaluated and investigated. Finally, it was concluded that the addition of 0.5% artificial cholesterol in prawn (shrimp) diet, significantly increased levels of food intake by 0.05 and 0.01 probability level, the final weight gain of each shrimp and the increase in the final harvest of shrimp per unit area by using a completely randomized design (CRD). Also, adding this amount of cholesterol in shrimp dietaries has led to improved survival rate and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Keywords: Aquatic Food Industry, cholesterol, shrimp diet, white indicus prawn (Penaeus indicus)