In September 2022, a shrimp trial was conducted to test MrFeed® Pro50 as primary feed ingredient at a commercial shrimp farm in Saudi Arabia. A total of 30 ponds were stocked with approximately 30 shrimp per square meter. Of these ponds, 21 were fed a diet containing 30% MrFeed® Pro50, a functional feed ingredient designed to replace fishmeal in the diet while providing health and immune benefits. The remaining 9 served as control ponds and were fed a standard operational diet. The trial lasted approximately 88 days after which data was collected to measure harvest body weight, survival and FCR. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical analysis was performed to analyze the difference between the means of the groups.
Results
The following table summarizes average data from all ponds. A p-value of <0.05 would indicate that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean value of the groups
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There were no statistical differences between harvest average body weight, survival or FCR between control and MrFeed® Pro50 ponds. However, it is important to note that the starting body weight was not comparable between the 2 treatments. The stocking weight for MrFeed® ponds averaged 1.1 g while control ponds started with greater than 50% body mass at 2.3 g. Final average body weights were 16.4 for control and 15.4 for MrFeed® ponds, with p-value of 0.18, suggesting no statistical difference in value between the treatments.
Final survival rate was greater than 85% for both control and MrFeed® ponds. Final FCR average was also not statistically different between the 2 treatments (p>0.05) and was 1.52 for control and 1.58 for MrFeed® ponds.
Discussion
Cost and availability of fishmeal are continuous challenges to the aquaculture industry. MrFeed® Pro50 provides a well-balanced, high-protein nutritional alternative to fishmeal that allows for complete replacement of fishmeal for the shrimp diet. Enhanced with nucleotides and peptides, inclusion at 30% in the diet generally provides superior health benefits including increased survival and average body weight compared to traditional fishmeal-based diets. In the current study, shrimp in the MrFeed® ponds started at a disadvantage with a stocking weight of 50% less than the control ponds. Despite this disadvantage, there were no significant differences in final body weight, FCR or survival between the treatments, suggesting that MrFeed® provided enhanced growth benefit, enabling these shrimp to “catch up” to the control treatment within the same time period.
Successful aquaculture operations require a careful balance of nutrition, sustainability and economics. MrFeed® Pro50 provides a sustainable solution to the fishmeal ingredient challenge, while improving harvest outcomes. Menon provides not only a superior feed ingredient, but also full-service formulation support from our nutrition experts to fine-tune farming operations.
For more information on how MrFeed® has improved shrimp health and growth, see our publications:
Mclean, Ewen & Barrows, F.T. & Craig, S.R. & Alfrey, Kelly & Tran, Loc. (2020). Complete replacement of fishmeal by soybean and poultry meals in Pacific whiteleg shrimp feeds: Growth and tolerance to EMS/AHPND and WSSV challenge. Aquaculture. 527. 735383. 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2020.735383.
Tran, Loc & Nhut, TC & Alfrey, KB & Barrows, FT & Kuhn, D & Mclean, Ewen. (2022). Performance of pacific white leg shrimp fed an open-source marine resource-free diet under commercial conditions. International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies. 10. 33-41. 10.22271/fish.2022.v10.i4a.2702.
