COMPENSATORY GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY IN THE CULTURE PHASES OF MATERNITY, DEVELOPMENT AND GROW-OUT OF THE WHITE SHRIMP, Litopenaeus vannamei, IN GOLFO DE NICOYA, COSTA RICA.   

      This study evaluated the compensatory growth of Litopenaeus vannamei under commercial culture conditions and its effect over the productivity, during 2014, in farms from Golfo de Nicoya, Costa Rica. The experimental design compared growth and productivity between three culture systems with different stocking densities and initial weights. Phases began from an initial phase of maternity (MA) with high (85/m²) stocking density of post larvae: a) maternity- development (MA-DE) with medium (23.3/m²) stocking density and 1.4 g of initial weight, b) maternity-development-grow-out (MA-DE-G) in low density with an initial weight of 6.0 g and c) maternity-grow-out (MA-G) (9.4/m² and 1.4 g). The MA-DE-G phase was performed in 2 cycles while MA-G phase in 3 cycles. A growth improvement was registered in the MA-DE (0.85 g/week) as compared to MA (0.26 g/week); however, the specific growth rate (SGR) decreased considerably in the MA-DE (3.73 %g/day) in relation to the MA (17.01 %g/d). Survival (81.0%) and production (1 029 kg/ha) in the MA-DE were higher than the MA (75.3% and 842 kg/ha, respectively). The weekly growth did not show major differences between both grow-out systems: MA-G = 1.07 and MA-DE-G = 1.02 g/week; however, the SGR decreased to less than half in MA-DE-G (1.51 %g/day) as compared to MA-G (3.19 %g/day). The results indicate that no compensatory growth was induced from MA at high density to MA-DE at intermediate stocking densities. Complementarily, no compensation was also measured from MA-DE to MA-DE-G. Partial compensatory growth was registered from MA to MA-G.