Chitosan as a wall material for a microencapsulated delivery system for Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man) larvae |
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| Authors: | Abdulaziz Anas Rosamma Philip & Isaac Sarojeni Bright Singh |
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| Institution: | National Centre for Aquatic Animal Health, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, Kerala, India;
Department of Marine Biology Microbiology and Biochemistry, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, Kerala, India |
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| Abstract: | Chitosan has been widely accepted as a wall material for preparing microcapsules of various purposes in human medicine. The possibility of using chitosan as a wall material for microencapsulating nutrients and drugs for aquaculture purposes, specifically to Macrobrachium rosenbergii larvae was evaluated in this study. Two types of chitosan-coated microcapsules were prepared using either acetone (MEC-A) or NaOH (MEC-N) as the cross-linking agents. They were compared with a microbound diet relative to total leaching of nutrients and free amino acids (FAA). Among the microcapsules, MEC-N showed the lowest level of total leaching of nutrients (23.3%) during 5 h of immersion in seawater and released 65% FAA after 60 min. During laboratory trials, 75% larvae had accepted the MEC-N capsule. The results of the study suggest that chitosan can be used as a wall material for preparing microcapsules to deliver drugs and nutrients to M. rosenbergii larvae. |
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| Keywords: | microencapsulation Macrobrahium rosenbergii chitosan drug delivery |
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