Effects of Chinese herbal compound in feed on growth, digestive enzyme and immune-related enzyme activities of Litopennaus vannamei

To investigate the effects of Chinese herbal compound on the growth, digestive enzyme activities and immune-related enzyme activities of Litopenaeus vannamei, five groups with 3 replicates per treatment of feed containing Chinese herbal feed additives (mainly Astragalus membranaceus and Baphicacanthus cusia) at 0, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.4% and 0.8%, respectively ,were fed to L.vannamei initial weight (4.140.06) g for 56 d. Results reveal that the survival of L.vannamei in test groupsis higher than that in the control, significantly higher in 0.2% group (P0.05). The relative weight gain in 0.2% and 0.8% groups is significantly higher than that in the control (P0.05). The digestive enzyme activities in the liver and intestine in the test groups are significantly higher than those in the control, significantly higher in 0.2% group (P0.05). The intestinal cathepsin and amylase in the 0.1% and 0.4% groups arehigher than those in the control (P0.05)．The AKP in 0.2% group is significantly higher than that in the other groups (P0.05). The SOD in the test groupsare higher than that in the control. The POD decreases and then increases with increasing amount of Chinese herbs, especially that 0.4% group decreases significantly (P0.05). In conclusion, Chinese herbal compound in feed (optimum supplemental level: 0.2%) can improve the growth, digestive enzyme activities and immune-related enzyme activities of L.vannamei.