LAUSR

Abstract Three experimental diets (the basal diet plus 2.5% soybean lecithin, 2.5% egg yolk lecithin or 2.5% krill oil) and one control diet were formulated to feed female Eriocheir sinensis (95.23 ± 4.43 g) for 10 weeks. The dietary phospholipid (PL) promoted the accumulation of lipids in the hepatopancreas and ovary of female E. sinensis, and krill oil more effectively boosted lipid deposition in the hepatopancreas and ovaries than soybean lecithin and egg yolk lecithin. Krill oil greatly improved the nutritional value of the edible parts (e.g., ovaries, hepatopancreas and muscle) of female E. sinensis by efficiently promoting polar lipids and n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acid deposition. The female E. sinensis fed diets with PL supplement had a lower content of malondialdehyde and higher specific activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase in the hepatopancreas, and krill oil exhibited the best antioxidant effect among three different PL sources. In addition, krill oil more effectively promoted vitellogenesis of female E. sinensis than other PL sources. Therefore, krill oil might be an excellent PL source, and could be used in the diet of E. sinensis in the pre-reproductive phase.