May | June 2010

Feature title: Enhancing the commercial and economic productivity of shrimp Penaeus vannamei with phytobiotic technology

The International magazine for the aquaculture feed industry

International Aquafeed is published five times a year by Perendale Publishers Ltd of the United Kingdom.All data is published in good faith, based on information received, and while every care is taken to prevent inaccuracies, the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of action taken on the basis of information published. ©Copyright 2009 Perendale Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner. Printed by Perendale Publishers Ltd. ISSN: 1464-0058

In the last decade, P. vannamei has emerged to become the number one shrimp of choice for cultivation around the world.

Today P. vannamei represents approxi-mately three quarters of the world’s farmed shrimp and has replaced the previous favourite P. monodon due to a tolerance of higher stocking densities per hectare and better feed conversion ratios both of which result in higher return on investment for farmers and consequently the retail value chain.

Bio-secure shrimp productionShrimp aquaculture continues to find

ways of applying revolutionary innovation

and technology to its commercial farming practices.

One such revolution has been the development of specific pathogen free

(SPF) shrimp. Such shrimp are designated free from one or more of a particular named pathogen which is usually one of the nine viruses’ that are can infect shrimp.

SPF condition is lost once the shrimp leaves the SPF facility, unless they are transferred directly to an equal status bio-secure facility.

Consequently, SPF status is a temporary condition that is not passed on genetically. Specific Pathogen Resistant (SPR) shrimp is another innovative technology that pro-

vides resistance to a particular strain of virus for example.

However, as is known with other mam-malian and human viruses’, they have the ability to mutate into different strains and therefore SPR shrimp may not necessar-ily convey the same level of protection against all strains of viruses’. Similar to other organisms, there appears to be a trade-off between disease resistance and shrimp growth (Chevassus and Dorson 1990, Henryon et al. 2002, Ceniacua & Akvaforsk 2002).

“Shrimp food products have consistently made up about half of the failed EU rapid alert tests in the last few years.”

Trial - The trial took place at Eneríque Enseñat at Coclé in Panama

Table 1: Trial Set-up

Stocking Density

shrimp/m2

Average Pond

Surface Area Hectares

Initial Stocking weight g

Total number of larvae Stocked

Control 9 3.8 0.003 1,102,000

Orego-Stim® 9 4.3 0.003 720,000

Table 2: Feeding Methods

Feed Fed % body weight

per day

Feed % Crude Protein

Orego-Stim®

ApplicationControl

0.003 - 5g 3 - 5 40 2kg/tonne -

5 - 15g 3 - 4 35 2kg/tonne -

15g - >20g 3 - 4 35 2kg/tonne -

Enhancing the commercial and economic productivity of shrimp Penaeus vannamei with phytobiotic technology by Matt Pearce MSc

It appears that the 2006 EU ban against Antibiotic Growth Promoters in animal feeds has taken a world leading stance in a trend that is likely to continue in order to eliminate residual drugs in food and protect

the efficacy of drugs for human health.

This has led to changes in agricultural and aquaculture practices that could soon take place in other regions around the world. This article reports on a field trial using Orego-Stim® Aquatract as a phytobiotic

feed additive in Whiteleg Shrimp Culture P. vannamei in Panama.

18 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | May-June 2010 May-June 2010 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | 19

IAF10-03.indd 18 30/04/2010 16:19

There are compelling reasons why breeding shrimp for resistance to a sin-gle viral pathogen, using current selective breeding strategies, may not be the most prudent course of action for the long-term viability of the shrimp farming industry (Moss et al. 2005).

Larvae nutritionSince marine fish and shrimp farming

first became commercially viable on a sig-nificant scale, the larval and hatchery phases of growth have been particularly susceptible to high levels of mortality.

There are several reasons for this. It is vital to use a nutritionally suitable feed of a correct size, colour and texture that moves in such a way to attract the fish or shrimp’s instinctive feeding behaviour. Despite the development of advanced commercial pellet diets, it has been impossible to replace live feeds in the early part of the life-cycles of fish and shrimp. Brine shrimp (Artemia spp.) are fed to shrimp larvae between the 7th and 26th days of their lives.

This is a critical period to ensure high rates of survival when the fast-growing shrimp larvae need an energy-boost not available from other commercial feeds. It has been estimated that a single shrimp will consume 1750 brine shrimp during this two-and-a-half week period.

The rapid development of shrimp farm-ing in Southeast Asia and Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s created a huge demand for brine shrimp and transformed the industry, over 80 percent of which come from the great salt lakes of Utah, USA.

Grow-out nutritionOnce the larvae are transferred into the

grow-out ponds, their challenges change from dietary nutritional composition to disease resistance in an aquatic environ-ment that doesn’t provide the same level of bio-security as the nursery.

Ballast water exchange, for example in the Panama Canal, is a significant pathway for shrimp virus transmission from wild stock. It is more difficult to assess the health of shrimp populations in the ponds than the nursery, and any delay in the lag phase in recognition of potential indications of disease can have significant unwanted consequences for the farmer in terms of mortality and lowered FCR.

Historically, one way that shrimp farms have combated disease has been with the use of antibiotics, however in recent years the EU

which is a major buyer of shrimp products on the world market has changed its policy on import legisla-tion and border inspections.

Shrimp food products have con-sistently made up about half of the failed EU rapid alert tests in the last few years.

The marker residue for the banned nitrofuran veterinary antibi-otic nitrofurazone ca l led semi-cabazide has been frequently detect-ed in foods (47 percent of recent nitrofuran EU Rapid Alerts involve semicabazide). Importers of shrimp have reported in the past rampant use of antibiotics such as chlo-r a m p h e n i c o l and nitrofuran in aquaculture farms. Traces of antibiotic resi-dues in aquac-ulture shrimps exported in the past have p r o m p t e d some of the E u r o p e a n countries to reject several export con-signments. The d eve l o p m e n t and spread of antimicro-bial resistant human patho-gens (motile A e r o m o n a s spp., E. tarda, E s c h e r i c h i a coli, V. vuln-ificus, V. para-haemolyt icus ,

V. cholerae etc.) have been well-docu-mented (WHO, 1999).

Table 3: Harvest results

ControlOrego-Stim® Aquatract Difference

Total harvest Weight (kg) 2,037 3,509 +1,472

Feed intake (kg) 9,842 12,767 +2,925

FCR 4.83 3.64 -1.19

Growth period (days) 146 146 0

Survival rate (%) 22.5 41.3 +19

No. shrimp harvested 84,695 148,252 +63,557

Table 4: Economic returns

ControlOrego-Stim® Aquatract Difference

Total harvest Weight (kg) 2,037 3,509 +1,472

Shrimp sales revenue ($) 7,987 13,759 +5,772

Total feed consumed (Kg) 9,842 12,767 +2.925

Total feed cost ($) 6,504 8,436 +1,933

OSA cost ($) - 970 -

Profit ($) 1,484 4,352 2,869

Return on investment - - 1 : 2.96

18 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | May-June 2010 May-June 2010 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | 19

F: Phytobiotic technology

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ReferencesCeniacua & Akvaforsk 2002. Selective

breeding of Litopenaeus vannamei in Colombia. Panorama Acuicola 7(2): 30-31.

Chevassus, B and M Dorson, M 1990. Genetics of resistance to disease in fishes. Aquaculture 85: 83-107.

Henryon, M, A Jokumsen, P Berg, I Lund, PB Pedersen, NJ Olesen, and WJ Slierendrecht. 2002. Genetic variation for growth rate, feed conversion efficiency, and disease resistance exists within a famed population of rainbow trout. Aquaculture 209: 59-76.

Moss, SM, RW Doyle, and DV Lightner. (2005) Breeding shrimp for disease resistance: challenges and opportunities for improvement. In: Diseases in Asian Aquaculture V pp. 379-393. (P Walker and R Lester, eds), Fish Health Section, Asian Fisheries Society, The Philippines.

Mr Juan Achurra (Farmer Owner), La Morenita, Via Al Puerto, Entrando por la estación Eneríque Enseñat, Región Coclé, Panama

World Health Organization 1999. Joint FAO/NACA/WHO Study Group on food safety issues associated with products from aquaculture. WHO Technical Report Series, No 883.

and survival rates are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Feed conversion ratio was reduced by an average of 25 percent in the Orego-Stim® Aquatract ponds.

Total survival rates of the Orego-Stim® Aquatract ponds were almost twice the control ponds. Table 3 shows the huge differ-

ences in harvest parameters made between the two treatments with a 72 percent increase in final total harvest weight and a 75 percent increase in the numbers of shrimp harvested.

ConclusionMr Juan Achurra, the farm owner said,

“In this field trial done on my farm, the Orego-Stim® Aquatract groups produced 3.5 tonnes harvest weight compared to the control group which produced two tonnes.

“Harvest weights per hec-tare were 913kg with Orego-Stim® Aquatract and 472kg per hectare in the control groups.

“These increased harvest weights gave me a 3:1 return on investment on the cost of Orego-Stim®, Aquatract.”

Feed Treatment MethodsA commercial shrimp feed was used

for the entire duration of the trial manu-factured by a leading Shrimp feed manu-facturer. Shrimp were fed twice a day at a rate of 60 percent their daily ration in the morning and 40 percent in the afternoon.

The trial lasted for a peri-od of four-and-a-half months with post larvae stocked into five ponds, three control and two Orego-Stim® Aquatract trials. Shrimp were harvested at an average weight of between 23g and 26g.

Orego-Stim® Aquatract was applied topically to the pellets prior to feeding at a concen-tration of two kg per tonne dissolved into a small quantity of blended marine fish oil.

Feed conversion ratio & Survival rates

The trial was compromised by an inva-sion of a species of marine ghost shrimp which competed for commercial feed and had cannibalistic effects.

Consequently, FCR was higher than expected and survivability was lower than expected. The feed conversion ratio

Figure 3: Total harvest weight and FCR

Figure 4: Harvest weight per hectare

Figure 1: Feed conversion ratio Figure 2: Survival rates

20 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | May-June 2010

F: Phytobiotic technology

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VOLUME 13 I S SUE 3 2 010

Alternative Lipid Sources

in Aquafeeds

Phytobiotics and Prebiotics:

- a new alternative for sustainable aquaculture

Innovative approaches to reduce feed cost in

aquaculture: - Optimizing nutrient utilization and gut health

IAF10-03.indd 1 30/04/2010 16:17

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