EFFICIENT REPLACEMENT OF LECITHIN IN WHITE SHRIMP (Litopenaeus vanammei) DIETS WITH LYSOFORTE^TM DRY(LYSOLECITHIN) SUPPLEMENTATION

Dietary phospholipids are essential for the normal growth and survival of shrimp. LYSOFORTE^TM Dry is a biosurfactant enriched with lysophospholipids used in animal feeds to improve fat digestion and absorption. This paper presents the results of a study which evaluated the effect of LYSOFORTE on the growth performance and nutrient digestibility of white shrimp (Litopenaeus vanammei) fed diets with partial replacement of lecithin. Treatments consisted of (1) Positive control diet (2% lecithin), (2) Negative control diet (1% lecithin), (3) Positive control diet + LYSOFORTE (0.1%) and (4) Negative control diet + LYSOFORTE (0.1%). On top addition of LYSOFORTE resulted in 1.4% and 4% improvement in lipid and protein digestibility respectively. These improvements are also coupled with consistent improvement in shrimp production by 25g/aquarium, specific growth rate by 0.12% and body weight increase of 0.67 g/shrimp after 8 weeks. Negative control diet with LYSOFORTE showed enhanced protein and lipid digestibility of 12.6% and 7%, respectively, (p<0.05). Interestingly, LYSOFORTE addition improved the hemolymph protein concentration, signifying its role in improving nutrient digestibility. When added to negative control diets, LYSOFORTE increased shrimp production by 51g, body weight by 1.35g/shrimp and specific growth rate by 0.25% after 8 weeks. Survival rate of shrimp improved by 4%, when LYSOFORTE was used to replace lecithin. LYSOFORTE addition to shrimp diets thus helps to enhance nutrient digestibility, resulting in improvements in growth performance of shrimp and supports economical shrimp production.