Dietary choline improves growth performance, antioxidant ability and reduces lipid metabolites in practical diet for juvenile Pacific white shrimp,Litopenaeus vannamei

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary choline levels on growth performance, antioxidant capacity and lipid metabolites in juvenile Pacific white shrimp. Six isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets were formulated to supply 0, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 6,000, 10,000 mg/kg choline chloride, and dietary choline levels were analysed to be 1,317 (basal diet), 1,721, 2,336, 3,294, 5,421 and 9,495 mg/kg, respectively. Dietary choline levels significantly influenced percent weight gain (PWG) and protein efficiency ratio (PER), with the highest PWG was observed in shrimp fed the 5,421 mg/kg choline diet. However, there were no significant differences in proximate composition of whole body and muscle. Shrimp fed the diet containing 2,336 mg/kg choline had lower HDL and LDL in haemolymph than those fed the basal diet (1,317 mg/kg diet). Dietary choline prevented the accumulation of free radicals and improved antioxidant capacity by increasing catalase activity and reducing malondialdehyde content. Based on broken-line regression and quadratic regression analysis between PWG against dietary choline levels, the optimal choline requirements were estimated to be 3,254.1 and 6,488.3 mg/kg for juvenileL. vannamei, respectively.

Automated summary

The dietary choline levels significantly influenced the growth performance and lipid metabolites of juvenile Pacific white shrimp, but had no significant effect on proximate composition.