Effective Vannamei Culture Practices

GROWTH RETARDATION and heavy mortality due to diseases has always been a major problem in shrimp aquaculture, both in the Philippines and in all other shrimp producing countries.

This is especially true in the culture of the Penaeus monodon or sugpo, which is native to the Indo-Pacific region. Due to this problem, all the shrimp producing countries in Asia resorted to the introduction of the Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei), which is native to the eastern part of the Pacific because of the availability of fully domesticated stock that are bred in specific pathogen free (SPF) facilities in the United States.

Many farmers in the Philippines now prefer vannamei due to its faster growth rate of 1.0 to 1.5 grams (g) per week compared to sugpo (1 g/week). Size at harvest is also more uniform for vannamei, thus reducing the need to sort the shrimps before delivery to the market. Since it is less aggressive than sugpo, vannamei can also be stocked at higher densities without worrying about cannibalism. Additionally, vannamei are tolerant of a wider range of salinities, making it more amenable to inland areas far from the sea.

Due to its tolerance of lower temperatures, vannamei can also be cultured in the cold season. More importantly, vannamei farms so far have not experienced massive outbreaks of White Spot Syndrome Virus or WSSV, which is known to cause mass mortality in sugpo. Survival rates for vannamei culture are thus higher than for sugpo, and the production level is more predictable.

In the hatchery, vannamei has the advantage of having a readily available stock of fully domesticated breeders from SPF breeding facilities abroad. Although the initial cost to import the breeders is high, the cost can be easily recovered due to the high and consistent survival rates of a well-managed hatchery compared to sugpo.