Pigmentary and Zootechnical Responses of Juvenile Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931) Maintained on Diets Supplemented with Xanthophylls of Marigold Tagetes erecta Flowers

Practical diets supplemented with 75 or 150 ppm xanthophylls (75% zeaxanthin, 15% lutein) industrially extracted from marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) flowers increased the astaxanthin and total carotenoid concentrations in juvenile Litopenaeus vannamei, compared to shrimp fed a practical control diet. Our results paralleled or exceeded those obtained with a diet containing 75 ppm supplementary synthetic astaxanthin. The post-feeding astaxanthin concentration accounted for more than 84% of the total carotenoid concentration in shrimp fed either diet, while beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, lutein, and other non-identifiable carotenoids comprised a minority of the total concentration. That this was seen in both the tail exoskeleton and abdominal muscle indicates that L. vannamei can metabolize precursor xanthophylls to produce astaxanthin. In most cases, more than 60% of the astaxanthin was esterified. In general, survival improved in shrimps fed the supplemented diets compared to those fed the control diet. There were no differences in growth.