No study has been conducted on dietary pantothenic acid (PA) requirement for Pacific white shrimp, while several studies have been done with fish species. Thus, this study was conducted to determine dietary PA requirement for the shrimp.
A control (Con+) diet was formulated to meet the nutrient requirement of shrimp without PA supplementation. A negative control (Con-) diet was formulated with 0.4% tetracycline hydrochloride for the evaluation of the effects of PA synthesis by intestinal microbiota in shrimp. Six other diets were prepared with graded levels of calcium pantothenate at 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 mg/kg (designated as P30, P60, P90, P120, P150 and P180, respectively). The PA content of both Con+ and Con- diets were not detected and determined to 28.3, 51.5, 92.8, 127.5, 169.1 and 229.9 mg kg-1, respectively, for P30, P60, P90, P120, P150 and P180. Total 800 shrimp (1.20±0.01 g) were stocked into 32 acrylic tanks (180 L) in quadruplicates per dietary treatment. Shrimp were fed the diets six times a day for 42 days with a feeding rate of 4–10% of the biomass.
Dietary PA supplementation have a significant effect on growth performance and feed utilization of shrimp. Final body weight (FBW), weight gain (WG) and specific growth rate (SGR) of PA supplemented groups, except for P30 and P60, were significantly higher than those of Con groups. A ratio of total Lactobacillus/heterotrophic bacteria counts was significantly higher in P90 - P180 groups than Con groups. Phenoloxidase and lysozyme activities were significantly increased in P120 group than in Con groups. These results indicate that the optimum dietary PA requirement of Pacific white shrimp is about 90-120 mg PA/kg diet and that PA seems to be synthesized in the shrimp intestine but the amount is not enough to meet PA requirement of Pacific white shrimp.