Effects of Dietary Inclusion of Shrimp Paste on Growth Performance, Digestive Enzymes Activities, Antioxidant and Immunological Status and Intestinal Morphology of Hybrid Snakehead (Channa maculata ♀ × Channa argus ♂)

Abstract

A nutritional feeding experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of shrimp paste on feeding attractiveness, growth performance, digestive enzyme activities, immune-related genes and intestinal morphologyin hybrid snakehead (Channa maculata ♀ × Channa argus ♂). Two diets were formulated with or without shrimp paste supplementation (D1：0% and D2: 3%) to feed fish for 8 weeks. Results showed that growth performance (FBW, WG and SGR) and feed intake significantly increased with shrimp paste supplemented (P0.05). Gut lipase and amylase activity was significantly higher in diet supplemented with shrimp paste than that in control group (P0.05). Results showed that feeding diet with shrimp paste supplemented did not significantly up-regulate expression of GR, IκB, P65 and IL8 (P>0.05). There are significantly more goblet cells in shrimp paste supplemented diet than that in control diet (P0.05). The results indicated that dietary 3% shrimp paste supplementation improved the growth performance of hybrid snakehead by enhancing feed intake while made no difference to antioxidant capacity.