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Chitosan as a wall material for a microencapsulated delivery system for Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man) larvae
Author(s) -
Anas Abdulaziz,
Philip Rosamma,
Singh Isaac Sarojeni Bright
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
aquaculture research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-2109
pISSN - 1355-557X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2109.2008.01944.x
Subject(s) - macrobrachium rosenbergii , chitosan , biology , nutrient , food science , leaching (pedology) , larva , fishery , biochemistry , botany , ecology , prawn , soil water
Chitosan has been widely accepted as a wall material for preparing microcapsules of various purposes in human medicine. The possibility of using chitosan as a wall material for microencapsulating nutrients and drugs for aquaculture purposes, specifically to Macrobrachium rosenbergii larvae was evaluated in this study. Two types of chitosan‐coated microcapsules were prepared using either acetone (MEC‐A) or NaOH (MEC‐N) as the cross‐linking agents. They were compared with a microbound diet relative to total leaching of nutrients and free amino acids (FAA). Among the microcapsules, MEC‐N showed the lowest level of total leaching of nutrients (23.3%) during 5 h of immersion in seawater and released 65% FAA after 60 min. During laboratory trials, 75% larvae had accepted the MEC‐N capsule. The results of the study suggest that chitosan can be used as a wall material for preparing microcapsules to deliver drugs and nutrients to M. rosenbergii larvae.