THE EFFECTS OF DENSITY AND ARTIFICIAL SUBSTRATE ON INTENSIVE SHRIMP Litopenaeus vannamei NURSERY PRODUCTION

Thomas W. Tierney*, Andrew J. Ray
 
 Division of Aquaculture, Kentucky State University, Land Grant Program
 Frankfort, KY 40601 USA
 thomas.tierney@kysu.edu
 

Intensive marine shrimp production is gaining interest at inland locations and can provide fresh, never-frozen shrimp to local metropolitan markets.  A nursery phase is commonly used in shrimp production, as it allows for enhanced biosecurity and better quantification of animals while utilizing space effectively.  Recirculating systems are especially useful as they can be contained indoors, allowing shrimp to be grown year-round in nearly any climate.  However, it is unclear what the optimal density may be in such systems and whether extra substrate may help improve system and animal performance.

This experiment compared four treatments, dictated by differences in stocking density and artificial substrate: low density-no substrate (LD), low density-substrate (LD-S), high density-no substrate (HD), and high density-substrate (HD-S).  Each treatment included four, randomly assigned 160 liter culture tanks; all systems had an external settling chamber and biofilter. The study included 53 cm (L) by 43 cm (W) pieces of high density polyethylene (HDPE) 2.5 cm mesh, which was used for treatments that included substrate.  The shrimp were grown for 50 days in nursery tanks stocked with either 3,000 PL/m3 or 1,500 PL/m3 based on the treatment, with an initial weight of 4 mg.  Daily parameters measured were temperature (°C), dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, and salinity (ppt).  Shrimp were weighed a little over halfway through the study to determine mean individual weights.  An α-value of 0.05 was used during data analysis to determine significant differences between treatments.  

Final data are still pending, but significant differences were found between treatments with regard to DO, pH, and average shrimp weights (Table 1).  These results suggest that stocking density and substrate addition may have significant impacts on water quality and nursery shrimp production, and that producers should consider these factors to help enhance production.