Digestibility of Dietary Lipids in the Prawn

Abstract

This paper deals with the digestibility of various lipids and cholesterol in the prawn Penaeus japonicus which was determined by an indirect method using chrominum oxide as an indicator. The prawn assimilated the lipids such as pollack liver oil, squid liver oil, soybean oil, oleic acid, palmitic acid, chicken-egg lecithin, tripalmitin, and hydrogenated fish oils effectively; the digestibilities of these lipids were more than 80% when the diets contained 8% levels of these lipids. The digestibilities of palmitic acid, tripalmitin, and chicken-egg lecithin were not affected markedly with their levels in the diets. Cholesterol added to the lipid-free diet was absorbed only slightly (% absorption=27.5). The co-existence of lipids such as palmitic acid, tripalmitin, or chicken-egg lecithin markedly improved the absorption rate of cholesterol, indicating the necessity of some lipids for effective assimilation of dietary cholesterol. © 1983, The Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. All rights reserved.