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Abstract:
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The efficiency of a diet not only depends on its nutrient composition and
nutrient balance but also on the effective utilization by the animal. In the
utilization of dietary nutrients, the digestive enzymes play the crucial role of
catalysing the hydrolytic reactions, splitting the macromolecules into simple
absorbable molecules. The activity of these biocatalysts is regulated by
alterations in pH, temperature, substrate type and concentrations, and also by
the presence of activators and inhibitors. Thus any shift from the optimum
conditions necessary for these enzymes may affect their activity, thereby
correspondingly modify the digestibility of the nutrients supplied to the
animals. Thus, investigations on the important digestive enzymes and their
preferential conditions of activity are essential, so that the results obtained
could be used in rationally adjusting the quality and quantity of feed supplied
to the different stages of prawns In India, directed research on nutritional physiology and biochemical approaches to digestion in commercially important prawns is taken up_ only recently, and the field is still in an infant stage. In view of its emerging importance it is identified as an area of priority and the present investigation has been carried out on the Indian white prawn Penaeus indicus |