Evaluating the color improvement of denisonii barb (Sahyadria denisonii) by adding astaxanthin into diets

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the ability to improvement the color of denisonii barb when adding astaxanthin into the diet, which was carried out on fish with a size of 6 cm. The experiment consisted of four treatments: Based on different astaxanthin levels on feed supplemented with (1) 20 mg/kg diet of astaxanthin; (2) 30 mg/kg diet of astaxanthin; (3) 40 mg/kg diet of astaxanthin and the control was not supplemented the astaxanthin into the feed.) After 90 days of experiment, the result illustrated that the color of S. denisonii had the difference between the four treatments. In addition, the red color index (value a*) on the fish body was shown most obviously in the treatment by adding 40mg astaxanthin/kg of feed (5.53), followed by the treatment 2 (3.45), treatment 1 (1.65) and the color of control was the lowest (0.45). However, there were no different criteria in all treatments, such as growth and survival rate performance of fish. Therefore, astaxanthin had a positive eff ect on enhancing the coloration of S. denisonii in artificial conditions. Adding astaxanthin with the concentration of 40 mg/kg of diet was illustrated as suitable for improving the red color of the S. denisonii fish body in 3 months culture to meet the requirements of the ornamental fish market.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.53818/jfst.02.2022.79