AN INTEGRATED APPROACH WITH FOCUS ON LARVAL FEED DEVELOPMENT, FEEDING STRATEGIES AND ROBUSTNESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HIGH-QUALITY SHRIMP POSTLARVAE: STRETCHING THE BALANCE BETWEEN EXPERIMENTAL FEEDS AND Artemia

This presentation reviews our continued research efforts towards improving feeds and feeding protocols for white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) hatcheries, based on knowledge acquired during in-house and joint research projects on larval feed development, feeding strategies and improving resilience. And with a focus on maintaining a high standard with respect to postlarval quality as this is affecting later performance in the ongrowing unit. Larval nutrition entails work on nutrient requirements, in-depth ingredient quality assessment, in vitro digestibility assays, least-cost formulation, feed production technology and physical properties of the feed particles. Developing new feeding strategies entails testing different combinations in terms of feed delivery, feeding frequency and timing, feeding rates, and Artemia/formulated feed ratios in controlled culture environments.

One of the objectives was to further stretch the Best Balance concept and verify the effect on larviculture performance and postlarvae quality. Best Balance is a concept on which INVE has been working for several years and which seeks the right balance between formulated feeds and Artemia nauplii in larval feeding regimes, specific to the regional conditions or even tailored to a specific hatchery situation, even under low Artemia consumption protocols. In addition, new concepts for increased resilience and microbial management have been included.

The effects of varying combinations of experimental feeds, feeding strategies and health concepts have been tested in several experimental larval shrimp trials at INVE's tropical research center in Thailand (ITARC), in which larval development, survival, growth and postlarval (PL) quality were always monitored. To ensure the production of high-quality shrimp, a series of parameters were measured to evaluate the robustness of the PLs, PL size variation and performance during the post-hatchery phase. Results of these hatchery trials and PL quality evaluation tests will be presented and discussed.