High protein krill meal as a tool to optimize low cost formulas for juvenile Litopenaeus vannamei diets farmed under semi-intensive conditions

ABSTRACT To investigate the potential of high-protein krill meal (HPK) to improve growth in low-cost diets for Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), a commercial control and a 3% HPK diet were compared. To simulate a semi-intensive culture system, a total of 4,500 shrimp with a body weight (BW) of 3.07 ± 0.01 g were stocked with 25 animals/m2 in 20 cages in a 2.16-ha pond. After 60 days of rearing, the 3% HPK diet achieved a significantly higher yield (22,094.0 ± 130.35 g/cage) in comparison to the control diet (19,301.6 ± 272.28 g/cage) (P < 0.05). When the feed cost per kg shrimp produced was compared, it was significantly lower in the 3% HPK group (US$1.01/kg shrimp) when compared to the control group (US$1.11/kg shrimp). The results indicate that low feeding cost diets can profit from the partial replacement of fish meal by HPK to optimize shrimp growth performance without increasing formula cost.