Commercially cultured shrimp and prawns still rely on high-quality live prey for optimal growth performance. Artemia plays a prominent role in this, and various products and protocols have been developed to enhance its nutritional profile. A line of Selco (Self-Emulsifying Liquid Concentrate) products has been developed to improve the nutritional profile of Artemia, in terms of HUFAs, vitamins, minerals and other nutraceuticals, providing nutritional benefits to the aquatic animals fed with the enriched Artemia. In this study, a protocol for the combined hatching and enrichment of Artemia nauplii was developed, using EG SEP-ART® cysts, Sanocare Ace Pro and different enrichment products (S.presso, A1 DHA Selco and Easy DHA Selco from INVE AQUACULTURE, Thailand). Following enrichment, the Artemia nauplii were fed to shrimp and prawn larvae. As a control, non-enriched Artemia was used to assess the impact of enrichment on larval growth and survival.
During the culture of M. rosenbergii larvae, replacing wild zooplankton with Easy DHA Selco–enriched Artemia significantly accelerated development from mysis stage to post-larval (PL) stages, reducing the culture period by three days. Moreover, larvae fed with enriched Artemia were notably larger, showing a ±14 % increase in dry weight at the PL stage compared to those fed a control diet of non-enriched Artemia combined with wild zooplankton.
In L. vannamei larviculture, feeding enriched Artemia resulted in improved culture survival at PL 11 compared to the control group (78% vs 74, respectively), a lower number of PL per gram (147 vs 156), higher Individual Wet Weight (6.8 mg vs 6.5 mg) and a better survival after a salinity stress (95% vs 91% in the control group) demonstrating enhanced physiological resilience and a superior growth performance. Furthermore, there was a significant presence of lipid droplets in the hepatopancreas compared to the control. These results highlight the nutritional advantage and growth-promoting effect of enriched live food during early larval development and show that enriched Artemia not only enhances growth but also improves stress resistance and muscle development in shrimp post-larvae.