KEY FACTORS NEED TO BE CONSIDERED FOR SHRIMP DISEASE MANAGEMENT: FEED AND BEST FARM MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Nguyen Duy Hoa, PhD.
Technical Director - Southeast Asia.
Empyreal Products, Cargill Inc.
 Duyhoa_nguyen@cargill.com
 

The shrimp industry has grown over the past two decades with the development of husbandry practices that allow for efficient use of resources in their live production.  However, this has not been without challenges.  Like many confined animal feeding systems, unless properly managed, risk and incidence of disease can be devastating to the economic survival of a farm or the industry.  Diseases such as Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis (AHPND), White Feces Syndrome (WFS) and Enterocytozoon Hepatopenaei (EHP) disease are some recently emerging disease that have resulted in huge economic losses.  To date, best management practices to control these diseases is not confined to any one solution but is a multi-factorial approach consisting of environmental controls, pond management and using ingredients in formulations that promote healthy nutrition.  

Healthy nutrition extends beyond formulating the diet based on nutrient and digestibility values for individual ingredients.  The shrimp feed industry should contribute a more effective and strategic approach by formulating shrimp diets with highly digestible and functional protein ingredients. These ingredients contain less anti-nutrients/contaminants, limit excretion of undigested nitrogen and phosphorous into ponds for improved feed conversion rate (FCR) as well as improve gut health for better digestion and healthier shrimp.  In this paper; therefore, the aspects of best farm management practices, feed characters and diet formulation approaches with highly digestible protein and functional ingredients as well as healthy nutrients will be discussed in details for better shrimp disease management.