Page 19 - Vol.38-No.6

FISHERIES & FISH FARMING

MATURATION DIETS FOR SHRIMP – IS THERE

AN ALTERNATIVE TO LIVE/FRESH FEED?

1. Biosecurity. Fresh and frozen feed or- 3. Water quality. In many cases, high
ganisms can potentially become a trans- water flow is needed following feeding
ferring vector for different pathogens and of fresh/frozen feed organisms. Often,
DR SAGIV KOLKOVSKI diseases. This is more so when crustaceans daily (or even few times during the day)

Co-Founder of Nutrakol Pty Ltd are used (Coman et al., 2006). Although, siphoning is essential to keep good water
recognized for their contribution to the quality and tank hygiene. This is obviously a
In recent years, shrimp culture has be- maturation process through supplement- labor-intensive task that might also affect
come one of the most important aquacul- ing maturation hormones and other nutri- the brood animals.
ture industries in the world. Globally, shrimp ents, the importation of crustaceans such 4. In recent years recirculating aquacul-
production has seen a tremendous upswing as Artemia has been restricted in several ture systems (RAS) became common and
– while in 2015, global shrimp production countries in an attempt to reduce the risk of in many countries, almost the standard for
didn’t even reach 3 million MT (McIntosh, disease transfer. Similarly, in many countries broodstock. Reducing organic load on the
R. 2022) current production levels reach the use of shrimp heads or shrimp meal in RAS due to the use of either fresh /frozen
over 5 million MT per year. maturation diets (or growout diet) has been feeds or dry pellets is becoming a priority.
However, even with this expansion in the banned. It is not known if non-crustacean
production there are some unknowns. One organisms can transmit shrimp viruses such
of the problems with shrimp (and other as white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and
crustacean) culture is broodstock diet yellow head virus (YHV) or others but due
and nutrition. Currently, most, if not all, to their origin, post-harvest methods and
hatcheries around the world are still using storage, they are all prone to become a
live, fresh or frozen, unprocessed marine vector for other pathogens.
organisms as feed items. These includes 2. Nutritional profile. Due to the fact that
squid, various mollusks (mussels, oysters fresh/frozen feed organisms are caught in
or clams), marine polychates and Artemia the wild or cultured under different condi-
(either defrosted or freshly killed). These tions, their nutritional profile varies. Season, P Monodon Broodstock
feeds are usually topped up with broodstock location, life cycle, pre and post-harvesting
boosters/diets which contain nutritional methods can and will affect their nutritional Considering the cost of broodstock (es-
additives such as vitamins, minerals and profile. This inconsistency in the quality and pecially ‘SPF’, ‘SPR’ and ‘SPT’), these are
fatty acids. nutritional profile makes it hard to stand- serious risks and in many cases result in
ardize protocols even within the same com- high mortality and/or reduced produc-
pany. Different countries and even regions tivity, leading to significant financial loss.
within a country will have different access Until now, shrimp broodstock fed matura-
to fresh/frozen feed organisms and will use tion-formulated diet, pelleted or extruded
them differently resulting in high fluctua- did not match the performances of animals
tion in FCR’s and performances between fed on fresh/frozen feeds. Formulated di-
farmers, regions and countries culturing ets tend to break down due to the unique
the same species. feeding behavior of the animals, resulting
in polluted water and very high FCR. More-
Artemia
over, palatability and ingestion rates are
Maturation diets based on a combina- usually lower than fresh feeds. Even using
tion of fresh and frozen marine organ- the same feed organisms as dry meals in
isms usually results in high reproductive formulated diets did not result in similar
performances for both domesticated and performances as when fresh/frozen or-
wild caught broodstock shrimp. However, ganisms were given.
this practice is far from ideal, exposing the Shrimp Vannemei In recent years, a maturation diet (Nutra-
cultured animals to several major issues: Feed®) for crustaceans that can completely

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