Análisis de la variabilidad de tallas de postlarvas de camarón (litopenaeus vannamei) en estanques de cultivo.

Abstract

The variety of sizes in shrimp larvae poses an important challenge for the aquaculture industry. The size disparity can have a direct effect on production efficiency and, consequently, on the profitability of producers. This circumstance generates the need to carry out an exhaustive study the size variability in shrimp hatchery of the Ecuadorian industry. For this study we study three randomly selected larval culture tanks, where we collected 100 to 200 larvae from PL 3 to PL10 to determine wet weight, dry weight and size. A notable variability in larval size was identified in each of the culture tanks, even though they had the same physical, chemical and biological conditions. The results obtained with respect to larval size indicated that as larval growth progressed, the disparity in larval size became greater. In our study after PL3-day-old the elimination of artemia in the diet caused a decrease in the daily growth rate. One of the solutions that deserves consideration to reduce variability in dimensions involves accurate dosing of feed, based on a proper estimation of the population in each culture tank. In addition, it is important to remark the significance of artemia in the diet, since, according to our findings, this caused a marked decrease in the daily growth rate.