Polyculture of Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp and Mugil platanus mullet in earthen ponds

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the growth performance of the shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei and the mullet Mugil platanus in earthen ponds (200 m²) located in the Laboratory of Continental Aquaculture of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG), in both polyculture and monoculture systems. The study consisted of three replicates, as follows: shrimp monoculture (SM), shrimp and mullet polyculture (PO) and mullet monoculture (MM). The stocking density was 10 post-larvae shrimp (PL) m −2 and 0.67 mullet m −2 . Fish and shrimp were fed commercial shrimp meal (38% crude protein) once a day. Initially, the amount of feed to shrimp was 20% of their total biomass which was later reduced to 5%. Mullets were fed at 5% of their stocked biomass. The experiment lasted 79 days during the summer of 2007/2008. At harvest, shrimp in monoculture had weight gain (15.59 g), specific growth rate (8.40% day −1 ), apparent feed conversion (0.88), survival (91%) and production (1.454 kg ha −1 ) significantly higher than in polyculture (1.039 kg ha −1 ). Mullets in polyculture had significantly better weight gain (42.72 g) and specific growth rate (3.99 % day −1 ) than those in monoculture (31.04 g and 3.69% day −1 , respectively), while the mullet condition factor was significantly smaller in polyculture (1.06) than in monoculture (1.13). The apparent feed conversion of the mullets did not present significant differences between monoculture (2.50) and polyculture (2.40). The physical and chemical water parameters were not significantly different in any of the experiments, except for the transparency, which was higher in earthen ponds with mullet monoculture. Polyculture of shrimp and mullet reared together in earthen ponds negatively affects the shrimp production and favors the production of mullets.

Mixed culture of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931) and flathead grey mullet Mugil cephalus (Linnaeus, 1758) in floating cages

“…m -2 for 79 days recorded 82 to 84% survival and SGR of 3.69 to 3.99 (Costa et al, 2013). In comparison, M. cephalus reared in cages in the present study at much higher stocking density of 23.5 nos.…”

“…Similar, higher survival and net shrimp yield in MX than in MN has been widely reported by various authors (Akiyama and Anggawati, 1998;Tian et al, 2001;Jana et al, 2007) and they opined that better water quality in MX to be the contributing factor when compared to MN. In contrary, Costa et al (2013) observed deteriorated growth of L. vannamei when cultured with M. platanus in earthen ponds. According to them, L. vannamei grew 18.8% more in the absence of M. platanus, while M. platanus increased by 27.3% in mixed culture.…”

“…Culturing Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) with L. vannamei in ponds (Junior et al, 2012) and recirculatory tanks (Muangkeow et al, 2007;Barraza, 2010) has been observed to be productive. Costa et al (2013) reported on polyculture of L. vannamei with Mugil platanus. However, till date, no attempt has been made to integrate L. vannamei farming with M. cephalus in cages.…”

Can the polyculture with South American catfish improve the feeding efficiency of rainbow trout culture?

“…South American catfish introduced into the culture while maintaining the normal density of trout should be evaluated. The additional production of fish with the same volume of water and diet is a strategy towards more sustainable aquaculture (Uddin et al 2007;Costa et al 2013).…”

Qualidade da água proveniente de poço artesiano em viveiro de piscicultura

“…O policultivo na aquicultura é um sistema integrado de criação, no qual duas ou mais espécies aquáticas são criadas no mesmo local (Costa et al, 2013). Na piscicultura continental, a qualidade da água vem tomando impulso de grande interesse neste setor produtivo, uma vez que, em um determinado ambiente, a água em condições inadequadas acarretará problemas no cultivo, levando os peixes à morte (Lachi and Sipaúba-Tavares, 2008).…”