Effects of some water-soluble vitamins on the growth of Penaeus monodon juveniles

Abstract

The response of Penaeus monodon juveniles (ave. wt.= 0.076 g) in terms of survival and growth rates to vitamin test diets was observed in a 35-day feeding experiment. The prawns were reared in 60-ℓ oval tanks containing filtered seawater in a flowthrough system of ambient temperature and salinity. The treatments consisted of a control (complete vitamin mix), a vitamin-free diet and nine other diets, each lacking one of the vitamins in the mixture. At the end of the feeding trial, the survival rates in all treatments ranged from 80 to 100%, while weight gain ranged from 74 to 40%. Significantly lower weight gains were obtained from choline chloride-free diet (P<0.05) and vitamin-free and inositol-free diets (P<0.01) than from control.