Variations of digestive enzymatic activity of the longarm river prawn, Macrobrachium tenellum (Smith 1871) adapted from the wild to culture with prepared meals

Abstract

Macrobrachium tenellum is an omnivorous freshwater prawn living in rivers near the coast and in coastal lagoons with potential to be cultured. It is distributed in rivers, estuaries, and coastal lagoons, and in each of those habitats, it has access to food items with different features and nutritional content. In this research, it has been tested if this variety of food availability has an immediate effect on their digestive enzymatic activity once animals are brought to laboratory and fed with different meals.Wild prawns were captured in a river and coastal lagoon, and after acclimation, they were fed with three different experimental diets. Total alkaline protease, trypsin, chymotrypsin, lipase, and α amylase were measured from prawns fed experimental diets at 15 and 30 days. There were significant differences in the enzymatic activity of prawns depending on their original habitat and diet. However, the proportion in which these enzymes are expressed in the prawns from different treatments remains proportional to what was observed in wild specimens, as reported in previous research. We consider that

Yolk resorption and larval development in the brackish river prawn Macrobrachium macrobrachion under laboratory conditions: Perspectives for aquaculture

“…According to De los Santos et al (2022), studies on the nutrition of wild freshwater prawns are valuable in determining feeding habits and requirements, but they are scarce.…”

“…It has shown rapid growth in this sector, particularly in the last decade (Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO], 2020). M. amazonicum is native to South America, is consumed (Agüero‐Fernández et al, 2022; De los Santos et al, 2022), and plays a relatively small role in the global production of farmed crustaceans. Despite the diversity of African native freshwater prawn species, comprising approximately 15 species, none of them have been raised in an industrial production system because of the lack of information about the biological and zootechnical aspects of breeding.…”

“…According to Jalihal et al (1993), knowledge of the role of early aquatic species ontogeny and organogenesis is essential for a better understanding of larval dynamics and mechanisms of adaptation to variable environmental conditions. In Macrobrachium tenellum , De los Santos et al (2022) showed that the habitat of origin seems to produce significant differences in enzymatic activity among animals cultivated with different feeds. Therefore, it is important to study the use process of yolk reserves, which are also a source of food for the larvae of M. macrobrachion .…”