SUSTAINABLE SHRIMP FARMING THROUGH USE OF PASSIVE ACOUSTIC FEEDING CONTROL  

Danthai Thongphiew* and Peter J. Blyth AQ1 Systems (Asia) Co., Ltd, Thailand  danthait@aq1systems.com
 

In shrimp farming the cost of feed can be up to 60-70% of the farm input. Therefore it's very important to control feeding accurately to avoid waste.  Clever delivery of feed has benefit to the farmer and the environment. The AQ1 SF200 acoustic feeding system has demonstrated significant improvements in production performance in growth, FCR, survival, biomass and improvements to water quality when compared to traditional methods. To achieve these benefits new technology was developed by AQ1 (SF200, Sonic Feeding system) which uses a hydrophone (passive acoustics) to monitor and control feed intake by measuring the sound of shrimp feeding (response).

The SF200 feeding control system can be used in all pond types. The system delivers pellets at a rate that matches the actual intake of the shrimp. It does not allow feed to accumulate in the pond as it controls feeding "real time". Traditional farming methods use feed tray observation every 3- 4 hours which can lead to under or over feeding. Some methods rely only on "models" that can also result in waste or underfeeding.

The human factor introduces error with such a repetitive task like feeding. Good feeding requires a lot of attention and bad feeding can have very negative impact on water quality and disease outbreak.

Overfeeding can lead to high FCR, toxicity due to ammonia, nitrite, and hydrogen sulphide. These create large swings in pH, increase the use of water exchange, increase the use of probiotics, and in the end cause disease and stunted growth of

the shrimps.

The wider environment can also be affected by poor farming with disease transfer and water pollution as key issues. Feeding with the SF200 eliminates waste and the negative effects associated with wastage. Data from (Table 1) shows global improvement using the SF200.

In production sectors such as salmon, poultry and pig there is high utilisation of automation in the feeding process, which has led to improved performance and the sustainability of the sectors.  Shrimp production is at the beginning of this inevitable step towards automation and its associated efficiencies.