Recent Advances in Nutrition of Penaeus monodon

This paper provides a brief summary of information on recent advances in the nutrition of Penaeus monodon . The nutritional requirements of P. monodon have been little known despite its importance in aquaculture. Recent findings indicate a noticeable difference between some important nutrient requirements of P. monodon and P. japonicus , the most studied shrimp species. For example, the thiamin requirement for P. monodon was estimated to be 14 mg/kg diet, while for P. japonicus it is 60‐120 mg/kg diet for juveniles and 40‐80 mg/kg diet for larvae. The same contrast was also observed in the requirements of riboflavin (22.5 mg/kg in juvenile P. monodon vs. 80 mg/kg in larval P. japonicus ), niacin (6.4 mg/kg vs. 400 mg/kg) and vitamin C (2,000‐2,500 mg/kg vs. 10,000 mg/kg). Research efforts to understand the lack of ability for shrimp to effectively use dietary crystalline amino acids have resulted in the development of a microencapsulated amino acid that can be assimilated by P. monodon which is incapable of utilizing the essential amino acid in crystalline form. This development enables the quantification of requirements of the amino acid and other essential amino acids for shrimp. A study using cellulose‐acetate‐phthalate encapsulated arginine indicated that the arginine requirement of postlarval P. monodon is 5.47 g/100 g protein (2.50 g/100 g diet). Other aspects concerning the importance of digestive enzymes, dietary requirements of protein, carbohydrate, lipid and vitamin, energy and larval feeding for P. monodon were reviewed.