Abstract: 【Objective】 The effects of dietary condensed tannins (CT) on growth performance,body composition,apparent digestibility of nutrients,and intestinal morphology of Lateolabtax maculatus were studied to assess the potential application value of CT as aquatic feed additive.【Method】 A total of 480 Lateolabtax maculatus with an initial body weight of (2.76±0.05) g were randomly divided into 4 groups with 4 tanks per group and 40 shrimp per tank.Three isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets,named T1 (basal diet,control group),T2 (basal diet+1 g/kg of CT) and T3 (basal diet+2 g/kg of CT) were prepared in this study,and fish was fed to apparent satiation during the 63-d feeding trial.【Result】 Survival rate and feed conversion ratio were similar among 4 groups (P>0.05). The final body weight,weight gain rate and specific growth rate were lower in T3 group than those in T1 and T2 groups (P<0.05).Dietary treatment did not alter the whole body composition of moisture,crude protein,crude lipid and ash (P>0.05).Apparent digestibility of dry matter and crude protein were T1>T2>T3 (P<0.05). The apparent digestibility of crude lipid was lower in T3 group than that in T1 group (P<0.05),but it was similar between T1 and T2 groups (P>0.05).Dietary treatment did not alter the apparent digestibility of ash (P>0.05).Compared with T1 group,Lateolabtax maculatus in T2 and T3 groups had different degree of intestinal injury along with decreased villus length (P<0.05) and increased goblet cell numbers (P<0.05).【Conclusion】 Adding 1 g/kg of CT did not alter growth performance of Lateolabtax maculatus,but reduced apparent digestibilities of dry matter and crude protein.Adding 2 g/kg of CT inhibited growth performance,decreased nutrients apparent digestibility and damaged intestinal morphology of fish.CT could be used as feed additive to be applied in Lateolabtax maculatus diet,and the dosage should be less than 1 g/kg.

Key words: condensed tannins; Lateolabtax maculatus; growth performance; digestibility; intestinal morphology