Pink Shrimp Feeding Experiments with Wheat Bran1

Abstract

ABSTRACTOther investigators have suggested that detritus enriched by the micro‐organisms that degrade it is a major component of the natural diet of penaeid shrimp. This paper describes pink shrimp (Penaeus duorarum) feeding experiments in earthen ponds and concrete tanks, with wheat bran used to produce an artificial detritus food for the shrimp. Wheat bran and other foods are compared, and the effects of food type, feeding methods, and certain aspects of water quality on growth, survival and yield of pink shrimp are evaluated.The artificial detritus method of feeding in the culture of shrimp is much simpler than the feeding of pelleted or other diets directly to shrimp, since the former does not depend upon monitoring of growth rates and population densities to determine feeding rates. Wheat bran is added to unaerated tanks or ponds at constant rates that do not cause oxygen depletion. We have added wheat bran to ponds at daily rates up to 35 kg per ha without causing obvious problems.With wheat bran feeding, it seems possible to rear postlarval pink shrimp in ponds or tanks to about 4 g (live bait size) in 3 months and at stocking densities as high as 100,000 per ha, and with survival as high as 90%. Our investigations of the artificial detritus feeding method will continue with the goal of developing methods for producing food shrimp profitably.