Supplementation of chitin and chitosan in high soybean meal diets on growth and intestinal health of snook (Centropomus viridis).

The snook Centropomus viridis is a euryhaline carnivore with high aquaculture potential. Feeding is essential for the sustainability of its culture and soybean meal (SBM) is a key ingredient for its nutritional value and low cost. However, its anti-nutritional factors cause gastrointestinal inflammation. Chitin and chitosan are crustacean-derived compounds with anti-inflammatory, prebiotic and mucoadhesive properties. The supplementation of feeds with these polysaccharides represents an innovative biotechnological solution to mitigate the gastrointestinal affectation associated with high SBM diets. An experimental bioassay evaluated the growth and intestinal health of C. viridis fed with 6 different diets per 100 days. A control high SBM diet (CCS), 4 diets added with chitin and chitosan (CCS1.5%-QNO, CCS3%QNO, CCS1.5%-QNA, CCS3%QNA) and a control diet without SBM (CSS). The results highlight the great acceptance of the snook towards diets with high SBM content, evidenced by high specific growth rates (3.23±0.10 %/day) and a survival rate of 98% on average. In addition, supplementation with chitin and chitosan in the diet of C. viridis improved their gastrointestinal health by reducing inflammationrelated pathologies in their intestinal morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]