WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2017 55 current trend. The use of this technology implies knowledge of shrimp behavior: schedules of greater and better food intake according to shrimp weight, feeding frequency, zone and feeding conditions. This allows for better growth and lower FCR, and reduction of the cost of shrimp production. Nicovita supports shrimp farmers with a feeding program called PATH (Programa de Alimentación Tecnológica) that ensures the transfer of good feeding practices with technological innovation. The program provides specialized technical advice on automatic feeders to improve FCR. The PATH applies to any type of automatic feeder and is focused on improving the shrimp production indicators and can be adapted to the culture conditions of each farm. The first experiences with automatic feeders indicated an improvement in productivity by more than 30 percent. Automatic feeders reduce the culture period because weekly shrimp growth increases and FCR is more efficient. Using automatic feeders reduces FCR by 12 percent, increases weekly growth by 10 percent, reduces the culture period by < 10 d, and increases survival by 5 percent (Table 7). Weekly shrimp growth is the variable that generates the greatest impact on both indicators: PI/ha/day and PIE. The PIE is an indicator that expresses productive efficiency, allowing comparison of feed productive models and automatic dosage as the new tendency in feeding. The reduction of FCR though the supply of many daily doses of feed and the time for best feed consumption by shrimp improves productive indicators Notes Máximo Quispe Chau, Technical Manager, Vitapro, Ecuador References Berger, C., M. Quispe and V. Talavera. Programa nacional para la competitividad de la acuicultura de langostinos en el Perú : 20052014. JV&C Investment SAC, Perú. Cámara Nacional de Acuacultura. Estadísticas. Boletines diversos de la Revista Acuacultura, Ecuador. Estadistic S.A. Resumen mensual de exportaciones de camarón. Resumenes diversos, Ecuador. Limsuwan, C. and C. Ching. 2013. Automatic feeding: Shrimp farmers new choice for better growth, feed conversion. Global Aquaculture Advocate. March-April: 80-81. Quispe, M. 2013. Evolución de la Industria Camaronera en Ecuador. VI Simposio Nicovita. Quispe, M. 2016. Production profit/ha/day (PP/ha/day) as an indicator of efficiency in shrimp farming productivity. LACQUA‘16. growth is higher (Table 5). The same effect is obtained with the PI/ ha per d. In the hot season (> 28 C), growth rates of 2 g/wk can be achieved. Growth is less during the cool season (< 28 C). In the Guayas pond harvest data, a higher weekly growth can be obtained even at a higher stocking density. At densities of 12-13 shrimp/m2, there was a direct relation between weekly shrimp growth and PI/ha/day and the PEI (Table 6). At densities of 14-15/m2, weekly shrimp growth decreases and consequently both productive indicators decrease. This could be due to limitations on the load capacity of the ponds that prevented them from expressing their maximum growth potential. Pond carrying capacity is limited by dissolved oxygen concentration and nutritional biochemical processes. Carrying capacity is decisive for getting the best productive results and has large effects on survival and weekly shrimp growth. Technology Tendencies and Productive Efficiency In Latin America, feeding shrimp with automatic feeders is a TABLE 6. An exercise on the effect of stocking density on PEI. (Shrimp/m2) Accumulated growth (g) PI/ha per d (US$) Productive Efficiency Indicator (PEI) N 8 1.11 11.95 0.19 144 8-9 1.12 15.57 0.18 613 10-11 1.26 23.91 0.23 957 12-13 1.28 36.88 0.28 752 14-15 1.21 35.01 0.26 220 Total 2686 n = data of harvested ponds of shrimp farms in Guayas, Ecuador TABLE 7. Productive indexes comparing automatic feeding and conventional feeding. Ponds with Ponds with automatic conventional feeders feeding Feed price (US$/kg) $1.10 $1.10 Type of stocking Transfer Transfer Stocking density (shrimp/m2) 12 12 Days of culture 100 110 Average weight increase (g/wk) 1.40 1.27 Average weight at harvest (g) 20 20 Survival rate (%) 65 60 Harvest Biomass (lb/ha) 3,436 3,172 FCR 1.6 1.8 Fixed cost (US$/ha per d) $ 20 $ 20 Total fixed cost (US$/ha) $ 2,000 $ 2,200 Feed cost (US$/ha) $ 2,749 $ 2,855 Total cost (US$/ha) $ 4,749 $ 5,055 Cost of shrimp (US$/lb) $ 1.38 $ 1.59 Final sales Price (US$/lb) $ 2.60 $ 2.60 Total income (US$/ha) $ 8,933.92 $ 8,246.70 Productive Index (PI) $ 4,185.02 $ 3,192.07 PI/ha per d $ 38 $ 27 PEI 0.27 0.20
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