Manejo del alimento en el engorde del Camarón Blanco Litopenaeus schmitti: II. Evaluación de esquemas de alimentación

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of different feeding schedules on growth of white shrimp (Litopenaeus schmitti) juveniles, a totally randomized experimental design was carried out in bottomless pens of 1 m2 in a fertilized earthen pond for 54 days, using 6 treatments and 5 replications. The feeding schedules resulted of different combinations of supplementary foods with 24, 30 y 33% of protein level during the culture, including the schedule used in commercial production in Cuba as control. An “unfed” treatment was included to estimate the contribution of natural food in the growth of shrimps. Treatments that included artificial foods with high protein levels at the end of the schedule promoted higher growths. It was estimated that natural forage contributed 57.0-60.9% to shrimp growth. Results suggested the need to re-adjust convention of feeding schedules in the farms using a semi-intensive production system.