Sustainable production in aquaculture requires integrating new technologies that maximize economic benefits while minimizing environmental impacts. In shrimp production, probiotics improve larval survival and reduce environmental impacts, but their use also increases total production costs. In this study, the economic feasibility of using probiotics in larval whiteleg shrimp production was assessed, as well as the optimal concentration to maximize the economic performance of a laboratory for larval whiteleg shrimp rearing. A bioeconomic model was developed based on the laboratory production data. Then, a marginal approach was applied to identify the optimal economic points. Probiotics led to a significant increase in survival, reducing unit production costs by 44%. However, they were also associated with a 6% increase in total production costs. Thus, profitability also depends on the capability of the laboratory to sustain this type of investment. At a constant price of 2.89 USD, thousand‐1 postlarvae‐1 2.96 x 1010 colony forming units (CFU) m‐3 day‐1 of homemade probiotic inoculum optimized the economic performance of the laboratory, increasing net benefits by 26% for each production cycle. A dosage increase of up to 6.8 x 1010 CFU/m3 day‐1 increased survival even more, but the economic benefits obtained with the use of probiotics were equal to those obtained without them.
Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) is a euryhaline fish commonly found in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic coast of North America. Because of high commercial demand and its euryhaline characteristics, aquaculture of this species has diversified from marine to low-salinity aquaculture systems. In recent years, interest in the feasibility of producing red drum in inland freshwater systems has grown and this prompted us to investigate its osmoregulatory capacity after rearing for 8 months in a freshwater aquaculture system. We compared the activities of several genes and enzymes involved in the osmoregulatory process in freshwater-acclimatized (FW) and seawater (SW) red drum. The gene expression profiles were variable: the expression of genes encoding Na/K-ATPase (NKA) and the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) was slightly higher in SW than FW fish, while phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and the glucocorticoid receptor messenger RNA (mRNA) levels were higher in FW red drum. The total plasma K concentration was 60.3% lower, and gill NKA activity was 63.5% lower in FW than in SW fish. PEPCK activity was twofold higher in FW than in SW red drum. Similarly, liver glycogen was 60% higher in FW fish. In summary, both gene expression and the enzyme activity data support the phenotypic plasticity of red drum and suggest that the limited capacity for ion homeostasis observed, in particular the low plasma K concentration, was due to the composition of freshwater and does not necessarily reflect a physiological inability to osmoregulate.
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