The effect of lycopene pigment on growth performance, feed efficiency and body composition of the Oriental River Prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan, 1849)

The present research was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of lycopene pigment on growth indices, feed efficiency and bio-chemical composition of Oriental river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense). In this study, 225 prawns with mean weight of 1.40±0.07 gram were fed by 5 dietary treatments containing different levels of lycopene zero (control), 50, 100, 150 and 200 milligrams lycopene per kilogram diet for 8 weeks. At the end of culture period, prawns were biometry with a digital scale and approximate body composition of samples was analyzed according to the AOAC method. Results showed that the diets containing lycopene showed a significant difference with the control treatment (p<0.05). However, hepatosomatic index was not affected by different lycopene treatments (p>0.05). The highest weight gain, survival rate and lowest feed conversion ratio were observed in 150 milligrams lycopene per kilogram diet. Carcass moisture, protein and lipid were significantly different from control treatment (p<0.05) but the ash of experimental treatments had no significant difference with control treatment (p>0.05). The results of this study showed that increased levels of dietary lycopene improved the growth and nutritional indices of the Oriental river prawn and adding 200 milligrams per kilogram lycopene to the diet was suggested to improve the growth performance, feed efficiency and carcass quality of this prawn.