Fish Nutrition and Feed Technology (2+1)

Unit 6 - Vitamins

6.1.Definition

Vitamins are a heterogeneous group of organic compounds essential for the growth and maintenance of animal life. The majority of vitamins are not synthesized by the animal body or at a rate insufficient to meet the animals needs. They are distinct from the major food nutrients (proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates) in that they are not chemically related to one another, are present in very small quantities within animal and plant foodstuffs, and are required by the animal body in trace amounts. Approximately 15 vitamins have been isolated from biological materials; their essentiality depending on the species, the growth rate, feed composition, and the bacterial synthesizing capacity of the gastro-intestinal tract of the animal. In general, all animals display distinct morphological and physiological deficiency signs when individual vitamins are absent from the diet.