Goh Chee Keong
Senior Manager, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore
Title: In-Vitro Study of Protein Encapsulated in Chitosan Microcapsules for Early Feeding of Fish Larvae
Biography
Biography: Goh Chee Keong
Abstract
In this paper, an attempt was made for encapsulation of chitosan loaded with egg yolks as protein source through layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly technique and followed by its in-vitro digestibility study, which is suitable for use in the early feeding of fish larvae. The chitosan-based microcapsules were designed to produce microcapsules with a suitable size-range for easy recognition and ingestion by marine fish larvae (50-100 μm), sufficient stability in terms of protein leakage and appropriate digestibility by the simulated-enzymes of marine fish larvae guts. Desired particle-size and stability against protein leakages over 8 hours were successfully achieved by optimizing the encapsulation process conditions. The digestibility trend of the chitosan microcapsules loaded with egg yolks was found similar to that measured for Artemia nauplii, which is commonly live feeds used for the feeding of fish larvae. Thus, the outcome of the in-vitro evaluation showed a promising characteristic as artificial larval feed with respect to entrap nutrients for further development to partially or fully replace live feeds in fish larval cultivation.