EXTRACTION AND EVALUATION OF CHITIN AND CHITOSON FROM BIOWASTE OF MACROBRICHUM ROSENBERGII, PENAEUS MONODON AND LITOPENAEUS VANNAMEI CULTURE PONDS, NEAR BAPATLA, ANDHRA PRADESH

Chitosan is the most important natural based common cationic polymer and one of the crustaceans and other animal by-products, it can be found in the exoskeleton of crustaceans via the deacetylation process of chitin. Chitin is the fiber in shell fish such as shrimp, prawn, crab and lobster. The shrimp industry generates a huge amount of shells in terms of processing and these shells are commonly discarded as waste, which usually cause environmental nuisance . This waste can be utilized as an commercial source of chitin and its derivative chitosan. The chitin and chitosan are considered versatile and promising biomaterial. Keeping the significance of chitin and chitosan, the present investigation has taken up to evaluate the yield percentage and quality parameters of the fresh water prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii, tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon and Litopenaeus vannamei. Compare with the three species M. rosebergii was better chitosan producer.