OPTIMIZATION OF DIETARY NUTRIENT INPUTS FOR PACIFIC WHITE SHRIMP Litopenaeus vannamei

This study was conducted to determine the digestible protein (DP) and digestible energy (DE) requirement for maintenance and growth of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) using a factorial method and to propose a bioenergetics model to determine daily feed allowance for optimal production of shrimp. Two experiments were conducted with juvenile shrimp L. vannamei. In a first trial, juvenile shrimp (2.2 g ± 0.2, n=30) were stocked in an outdoor semi-closed recirculating system at a density of 30 shrimp/tank. Five feeding regimes or treatments (0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 g/shrimp/week) were assigned to 3 replicated tanks per treatment. The second trial was conducted under the same conditions and in the same system as trial 1, but with sub-adult shrimp (11.1 g ± 0.4, n = 30). The feeding treatments for this trial were: 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 g/shrimp/week. For juvenile shrimp, significant differences were observed between the final weight and weight gain of shrimp under the different treatments. Increased feeding input produced significantly higher final weight and weight gain for each feeding level.