Effect of dietary histamine supplementation on growth and tissue amine concentrations in blue shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris

Recent studies have shown that feeding diets supplemented with fish meal co ntaining high levels of biogenic amines to shrimp reduced growth and feed c onsumption. An improvement in growth, however, has been found in shrimp fed a diet supplemented with histamine and cadaverine. The objective of the cu rrent experiment was to provide more information about the effect of dietar y histamine on the growth of blue shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris and the i mpact on biogenic amine concentration in shrimp tissues. Six experimental d iets were manufactured and supplemented with histamine at 0, 600, 1200, 240 0, 3600 and 4800 mg kg(-1) and tested in a feeding trial for 28 days. Hista mine supplementation did not have any effect on feed consumption, feed conv ersion ratio or survival. Weight gain fitted a quadratic dose response curv e (P < 0.05), with maximum values at 1200 and 2400 mg kg(-1) of dietary his tamine (weight gain being 8.8% higher than for the control), and lower grow th at higher doses. Spermidine concentration in whole shrimp tissue increas ed linearly with dietary histamine supplementation. It was concluded that d ietary histamine supplementation at the levels tested does not have any neg ative effect on shrimp performance. Moreover, an improvement in weight gain was observed when histamine was supplemented at moderate levels. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.