Intensive production of the white leg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone 1931), in Central America and Asia is estimated to have reached 5.9 million t in 2024. The global shrimp market size is suggested to reach 130 billion USD in 2032. In such intensive aquaculture production, bacterial diseases have been identified as a major cause of economic loss to producers. Especially in live feed larviculture, where the brine shrimp Artemia spp. is the most widely used species, it has been speculated that Artemia can act as a carrier or reservoir for pathogenic bacteria, such as Vibrio spp. Antibiotics used to be common practice to treat such bacterial infections and the prophylactic use of antibiotics as growth promoters in aquaculture production has also been widely applied. Regulatory authorities in most exporting countries now focus on preventing misuse of antibiotics in aquaculture, while public attention has shifted towards sustainable production methods. Organic acids, and especially potassium diformate, which is the most widely tested organic acid salt in aquaculture, are among the various alternatives for environmentally friendly and nutritive-sustainable aquaculture. Potassium diformate (KDF, traded as AQUAFORM, ADDCON) has been tested in shrimp aquaculture since 2006 and since then numerous publications, conference contributions and review-papers on the use of KDF in aquaculture have been published worldwide. This study was designed to estimate the impact of potassium diformate on Vibrio spp. reduction in Artemia larviculture.
The final dataset contained the results of 5 trials at Indian shrimp hatcheries and their Artemia production, in which KDF was included. The KDF-dosages ranged from 10 to 30 g per 1000 L tank volume under commercial conditions – with an average of 22 g/cbm. The additive was added to the Artemia nauplii at 4 to 17 hours post-hatch – and the number of Vibrio colonies was compared between 24- and 32-hours post-hatch. Data were subjected to statistical analysis and a significance level of 0.05 was used in all tests.
The Vibrio counts in the treated groups was considerably reduced. In four out of the five trials, Vibrio spp. numbers were reduced to zero. The overall reduction rate was 99.1%. Due to the high variation, caused by the different production systems in the hatcheries, reduction only tended to be significant (P<0.097). Water quality parameters remained stable, while Artemia health and activity was improved.
In general, results show a promising concept for reduction of pathogenic bacteria, and thus health status, with potassium diformate in Artemia hatcheries. These findings support the use of KDF in shrimp and Artemia culture as a promising alternative in ecologically sustainable and resource-optimized shrimp production.