Research Article

Evaluation of Phytosterols as an Alternative to Cholesterol in Practical Diets on Growth and Nonspecific Immunity of Litopenaeus vannamei

Table 3

Body composition and physical indicators of shrimp fed different diets.

Sterol sourceSterol level (g/kg)GroupMoistureCrude proteinCrude lipidAshCondition factorFlesh content

Cholesterol1LCaa
2HCbcb
Phytosterol1LPaa
2HPabb
Mixed sterol sources2CPcb
value0.4980.0070.071<0.0010.7650.404
Two-way ANOVA value
Source0.7970.1400.0450.2740.9790.601
Level0.2260.0100.127<0.0010.2860.232
Source × level0.5460.1040.6360.1640.8120.894

Data represent of three replicates (). Values in the same line with different letters are significantly different () based on Duncan’s test. The lack of superscript letter indicates no significant differences among treatments. Two-way ANOVA followed by Student-Newman-Keuls (SNK) multiple comparison test was conducted to investigate the interaction effects of sterol sources and levels.