Assessment of requirement values for essential amino acids in the prawn, Marsupenaeus japonicus (Bate)

The requirements of juvenile prawn, Marsupenaeus japonicus (Bate), 0.79 g initial body weight, for essential amino acids (EAA) were evaluated based on the daily increase of each EAA in the whole body when the prawn was maintained on a diet with a high nutritive value (a casein‐squid protein‐based diet). The quantities of each EAA needed daily for growth and maintenance of prawn are conceived to correspond to the daily requirements of this prawn species for EAA. Therefore, these requirement values of respective EAA should be supplied from dietary proteins. To determine these values, protein and amino acids of the whole body of the prawn were quantified before and after feeding experiments, and the quantities of respective EAA needed to meet the requirements were estimated based on the EAA profile of the whole body protein of prawn. As a result, the contents of EAA in dietary proteins (%) needed to meet the requirements of the prawn for EAA were assessed to be: threonine (2.3), methionine (1.3), valine (2.4), isoleucine (2.3), leucine (3.4), phenylalanine (2.6), lysine (3.2), histidine (1.1), arginine (2.9) and tryptophan (0.6), respectively, when the prawn are fed 50% protein diet with 90% protein digestibility at a ration size of 2% (% of body weight).