SHRIMP Litopenaeus vannamei PRODUCTION IN CLEAR WATER AND BIOFLOC SYSTEMS
Shrimp is one of the top seafood products consumed in the world. Many metropolitan markets have difficulty attaining affordable fresh shrimp. This study aims to help pinpoint technology that will increase the viability of indoor commercial shrimp production in areas where the market supply of fresh shrimp is limited or seasonal.
This project focused on the culture of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, specifically shrimp performance within two types of production systems: clear water RAS (CW) and biofloc technology systems (BF). These two approaches were examined due to their congruent characteristics enabling the production of high densities of shrimp within indoor biologically secure and minimal-exchange systems.
Marine shrimp weighing a mean of 0.42g were stocked in six 1.36 m3 fiberglass tanks within a climate-controlled greenhouse. The stocking density was 250 shrimp/m3 (340 shrimp per tank). There were three randomly assigned replicate tanks for each system type: 3 BF and 3 CW. System performance was interpreted by calculating shrimp production and water quality metrics; shrimp were harvested after 55 days of growth.
Shrimp mean harvest weight and FCR were significantly better in the CW treatment versus the BF treatment (P < 0.05). Additionally, results suggest that CW external filters were more effective as they created more stability in water quality parameters. Generally, the clear water systems outperformed biofloc systems by most indications of this study.