The effect of different lycopene levels on bio-chemical hemolymph parameters, total carotenoid content and intestinal microbial flora of the Oriental River Prawn Macrobrachium nipponense (de Haan, 1849)

The present research was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of lycopene pigment on bio-chemical hemolymph parameters, total carotenoid content and intestinal microbial flora of Oriental river prawn. In this experiment, two hundred and twenty-five prawns with mean weight of 1.40±0.07 gram were fed by five dietary treatments containing different levels of lycopene zero (control), 50, 100, 150 and 200 milligrams lycopene per kilogram diet for eight weeks. Results from the measurement of hemolymph bio-chemical parameters at the end of the culture period showed that experimental diets containing lycopene pigment in most of these parameters showed a significant difference with the control treatment (p<0.05). However, calcium, phosphorus and cholesterol were not affected by different levels of lycopene (p>0.05). Indices of urea, glucose, uric acid, creatinine, and triglycerides were significantly lower in treatments fed with lycopene than control treatment, whereas the highest levels of HDL and LDL were observed in treatments containing lycopene (p<0.05). Measuring the total carotenoid content of experimental treatments showed a significant difference and also evaluation of the intestinal microbial flora at the end of the experimental period indicated that there was significant difference in the total bacteria count between the experimental treatments (p<0.05). Finally, the results of this study showed that increased levels of dietary lycopene improved the bio-chemical hemolymph parameters and total carotenoid content of the Oriental river prawn and adding 200 milligrams lycopene per kilogram of this pigment to the diet was suggested to improve the parameters that mentioned of this prawn.