Skin colour enhancement of swamp eel (Monopterus albus) by using dietary cotaining different sources carotenoid

Abstract

The study was conducted to find out the optimal dietary pigmentatation in terms of the growth performance and skin colour enhancement of Swamp eel (Monopterus albus). The experiment included seven treatments with three replications. Each treatment contained non-pigmentation, 1 g Cantaxanthin (Can), 1 g Astaxanthin (Ast), 5 g Xanthophyl (Xan), 0.5 g Astaxanthin + 0.5 g Cantaxanthin, 0.5 g Astaxanthin + 2.5 g Xanthophyll, 0.5 g Cantaxanthin + 2.5 g Xanthophyll equivalent kg-1 diet. The diet had about 45% protein, 9% lipid and 19,45 Kcal/g. Swamp eel (47.53 1.47 g/individual) were assigned randomly in 21 composite tanks (50 individuals/tank) with continuous aeration. They were fed twice daily (8 am and 4 pm) on demand for 60 days. After experiment time, there were differences in skin color of swamp eel between seven treatments. In terms of intensity of colour (value L*) and intensity of red colour (value a*) on body, there was no significantly difference between seven treatments. However, in the treatment of 5 g Xanthophyll kg-1 diet, the yellow color (value b*) on the belly was strongest (28.54.15) while this colour was weakest in the confront treatment (18.61.02). Besides, the organoleptic evaluation (9 point) showed that the treatment of 5 g Xanthophyll kg-1 diet reached the highest satisfying of consumer’s favourite color (7.60.25) while the confront treatment get the lowest point (6.20.38). Growth rates increased but not diffferent between seven treatments. Survival rates were 100% for all experiment.