The use of additives in aquaculture, applied in commercial diets, its benefits have resulted in an attractive line of interest not only scientific but also economic, where one of the most important additives are yeast derivatives, as is β-glucan, Profiling as a prevention alternative to the indiscriminate use of antibiotics.
The objective of this work is to determine technical-economic feasibility by the inclusion of the additive β-glucan in the diet of shrimp (L. vannamei). In this way, was carried a bioassay in laboratory, feeding juveniles shrimp (0.35±0.04g), during 30 days, with a stocking density of 10 shrimp/experimental units. We applied three concentrations of the additive (β-glucan) in commercial food (0.2%, 0.4% and 0.8%), with two different frequencies (daily and each third day), each treatment was by tripled, and the control treatment was a commercial food (Purina®).
At the end of treatment, the organisms were inoculated with Vibrio parahaemolyticus according to the methodology of Rubio-Castro et al., 2016, and finally was identified as best treatment the application of 0.4% of the additive each third day, taking into account the results about growth and survival. Beside, this treatment was taken as a reference to perform a simulation of application in a semi-intensive farm, assuming the treatment in a pond of one hectare, and with a growth of 1.5% annually, a projection of 5 years and a discount rate of 10 %.
The economic evaluation threw a VAN of $1, 633,094.692, an internal rate of return of 26% and a cost/benefit ratio of 1.75, considering it profitable, this compared with the use of antibiotics. In the operation of a semi-intensive production system of white shrimp L. vannamei significantly improves the biological and commercial variables, in addition, no negative effects were observed in survival, food conversion Factor and final weight by the inclusion of the additive
Considering an economic perspective, the investment of additives as an alternative, small concentrations are feasible, which, although, promises an increase in the survival of aquaculture farms, despite the fact that an internal rate of return is determined positive from 60% survival, therefore, is considered an expense if this does not generate above such survival, considering that the additive β-glucan ensures greater survival in case of sanitary emergencies in farms.
References
Rubio-Castro, A., Luna-González, A., Álvarez-Ruiz, P., Escamilla-Montes, R., Fierro-Coronado, J. A., López-León, P., . . . Diarte-Plata, G. (2016). Survival and immune-related gene expression in Litopenaeus vannamei co-infected with WSSV and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Aquaculture, 464, 692-698. doi: