COMMERCIAL EVALUATION OF A PROBIOTIC MIXTURE (SANOLIFE PRO-W) TO ENHANCE SURVIVAL, GROWTH, AND PRODUCTION OF THE PACIFIC WHITE SHRIMP Litopenaeus vannamei CULTURED IN INLAND PONDS OF WEST ALABAMA AND FLORIDA

Luke A. Roy*, David Teichert-Coddington, Susan Laramore, Mark Godwin, Sunni Dahl, Jesse James, Gregory N. Whitis, Benjamin H. Beck, Craig A. Shoemaker
School of Fisheries, Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences
Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849
royluke@auburn.edu
 

Semi-intensive pond production of the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, has been established in west Alabama and Florida for a number of years.  Farmers in west Alabama have been utilizing water derived from an inland low salinity (2-10 ppt) aquifer to successfully raise marine shrimp. In recent years, survival and yield have been reduced compared to previous production seasons. Poor survival at harvest has not been restricted to just one farm and has been reported by multiple farms in several states including Alabama, Florida, and Texas. Farmers have hypothesized that the increase in observed mortality may be due to disease, toxic algae blooms, water quality, shrimp source, or reduced robustness of shrimp in later stages of production. In order to investigate a probiotic as a potential solution for improving survival and yield at harvest, three shrimp producers (two in Alabama and one in Florida) evaluated the use of a probiotic mixture (Sanolife Pro W) which contains a high concentration (5 x 1010 cfu/g) of two strains of bacteria Bacillus subtilis and B. licheniformis.  In Alabama, one shrimp producer (AL-Farm 1) designated eight ponds for the study (4 control, 4 treatment ponds) while the other Alabama farm (AL-Farm 2) and Florida farm (FL-Farm) both utilized six ponds for the trial (3 control, 3 treatment ponds).  In the control ponds no probiotic mixture was provided.  In the treatment ponds, 80 grams of probiotic per acre-m of water was administered prior to stocking and each week thereafter until harvest.  Both control and treatment ponds were subjected to the same management practices except for presence or absence of probiotic treatment.  Dissolved oxygen and temperature were tracked daily, while total ammonia nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, and salinity were measured weekly.  pH was determined in situ weekly in the morning before 800 hr and again in the afternoon between 1600 and 1700 hr.  In Alabama, major genera of blue green and golden algae were also tracked every two weeks throughout the trial.  Shrimp and pond water were sampled and evaluated for major pathogens at the beginning, middle, and end of the experimental trial. The production trial is currently ongoing and ponds will be harvested in September and October of 2017.  Shrimp survival, final weight, yield, food conversion ratio, hemolymph osmolality, and major hemolymph ions will be determined following harvest of production ponds. Results will be utilized to evaluate whether a probiotic mixture affected water quality and production of shrimp raised in semi-intensive ponds.