International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences 2013; 2(4): 160-166 Published online June 20, 2013 (http:// www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijnfs) doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20130204.11 Evaluation of nutritional quality of commercially cultured Indian white shrimp Penaeus indicus Hala Ali Abdel-Salam Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt Email address: Hala.ali2010@yahoo.com To cite this article: Hala A. Abdel-Salam. Evaluation of Nutritional Quality of Commercially Cultured Indian White Shrimp Penaeus indicus. International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences. Vol. 2, No. 4, 2013, pp. 160-166. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20130204.11 Abstract: Penaeus indicus is a valued crustacean species. Currently P. indicus is mainly cultured in many areas of the world to overcome the increase of population consumption. Yet, the biochemical composition of this species is still inadequately understood. So, the purpose of the present work was, therefore, to assess the protein, carbohydrates, lipid , vitamins B 1 , B 2 , amino acids, minerals and protein electrophoresis to evaluate the nutritive quality of this cultured prawn. In the present study, nutritional analysis of muscle of both sexes indicated that the presence of a high amount of protein, 9 essential amino acids and 7 non-essential amino acid. Furthermore, the edible portion of females had the highest levels of vitamin B 1 and B 2 compared with their males. While, mineral contents of muscles of male indicate this decreasing arrangement S > P > Ca > Zn > K > Na >Se and females had this order S > P > Zn> Ca > K > Na >Se. From the electrophoretic analysis of protein, 13 bands were identified around molecular weight 10.42 to121.07 KD, while the electrophoretic analysis of muscle of females showed 14 bands with molecular weight ranged from 10.09 to 198.7 KD. Regarding the results obtained in the present study in light of nutritional point of view commercial culture P. indicus is considered to be very good crustaceans species and can be very well used as food for human consumption . Keywords: Penaeus Indicus, Proximate Composition, Amino Acids, Minerals, Protein Electrophoresis 1. Introduction Edible crustaceans, such as crab, prawn, crayfish and lobster constitute one of the major sources of nutritious food for human being. There are much studies encouraging crustacean consumption [1-6]. The nutritive values of crustaceans depend upon their biochemical composition, such as protein, amino acids, lipid, fatty acids, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals. Among seafood, shrimps contribute about 20% by volume of the world seafood market [7]. They have great importance in food consumed by human and other organisms. They are valuable in the diet, because apart from supply of good quality proteins and vitamins, they also contains several dietary mineral such as calcium, iron etc.., which are beneficial to human and other organisms; these minerals play an important role in maintaining the survival of organisms in a healthy and normal metabolism[6]. Therefore, shrimp is one of the most popular species as it is a part of almost every nation’s traditional meal rich in protein and mineral. The world’s production of shrimp is about 6 million tones of which approximately 3.4 million tones are contributed by capture fisheries and 2.4 tones by aquaculture [8]. Aquaculture has been described as an underwater agriculture mainly to increase the production above the natural, wild level to overcome the increase of population consumption. Among the cultured shrimps, the Indian white shrimps, Penaeus indicus is one of the major commercial prawn species of the world. It prefers mud or sandy mud at depths of 2–90 meters. It has a life span of 18 months [8]. Currently P. indicus is mainly cultured in Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Iran and India. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia was the largest producer in 2005 at nearly 11,300 tones [9]. The knowledge of the biochemical composition of any edible organism is extremely important since the nutritive value is reflected in biochemical contents [10]. However, information available on the chemical composition of shrimps species harvested from the aquacultures is very limited. [11, 12] Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the proximate composition of basic biochemical constituents, such as total protein, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins B 1 , B 2 , amino acid composition, minerals (Na, K, Zn, Ca, P, S and Se) and protein electrophoresis of edible