Abstract:
The present study was conducted to evaluate growth performance
and color enhancement of goldfish, Carassius auratus,
fed diets containing 0, 50, 100, 200, and 250 mg kg−1 diet of
annatto dye (AD) for 60 days. The survival rate was significantly
higher in fish fed 100, 200, and 250 mg AD kg−1 diet over than
these fed control and 50 mg AD kg−1 diet (p < 0.05). AD significantly
(p <0 .05) increased the pigmentation in the skin and
caudal fin of goldfish in a concentration dependent manner
(R2 = 0.995, 0.997). The highest amount of total carotenoid
deposition in fish skin and fins were given by diets containing
200–250 mg AD kg−1 diet. The highest redness (a*) of 43.21
and yellowness (b*) of 12.53 were obtained by 250 and 50 mg
AD kg−1, respectively. The present results show that AD can be
successfully used as an alternative natural carotenoid source in
goldfish diets at levels of 200–250 mg AD kg−1 diet.
