Effects of dietary soluble β-1,3-glucan on the growth performance, antioxidant status, and immune response of the river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense)

The effects of dietary β-1,3-glucan on the growth performance, body composition, hepatopancreas tissue structure, antioxidant activities, and immune response of the river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense) were investigated. In total, 900 juvenile prawns were fed one of five diets with different contents of β-1,3-glucan (0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 1.0%) or 0.2% curdlan for 6 weeks. The growth rate, weight gain rate, specific growth rate, specific weight gain rate, condition factor, and hepatosomatic index of juvenile prawns fed 0.2% β-1,3-glucan were significantly higher than those fed 0% β-1,3-glucan and 0.2% curdlan (p < 0.05). The whole-body crude lipid content of prawns supplemented with curdlan and β-1,3-glucan was significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). The antioxidant and immune enzyme activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), catalase (CAT), lysozyme (LZM), phenoloxidase (PO), acid phosphatase (ACP), and alkaline phosphatase (AKP) in the hepatopancreas of juvenile prawns fed 0.2% β-1,3-glucan were significantly higher than those of the control and 0.2% curdlan groups (p < 0.05), and tended to increase and then decrease with increasing dietary β-1,3-glucan. The highest malondialdehyde (MDA) content was observed in juvenile prawns without β-1,3-glucan supplementation. The results of real-time quantitative PCR indicated that dietary β-1,3-glucan promoted expression of antioxidant and immune-related genes. Binomial fit analysis of weight gain rate and specific weight gain rate showed that the optimum β-1,3-glucan requirement of juvenile prawns was 0.550%–0.553%. We found that suitable dietary β-1,3-glucan improved juvenile prawns growth performance, antioxidant capacity, and non-specific immunity, which provide reference for shrimp healthy culture.