Studies on Energy and Protein Requirements to Improve Feed Management of the Pacific White Shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei

Abstract

Daily requirements for energy and protein were determined in growing Litopenaeus vannamei as the sum of
requirements for maintenance and growth. The requirement of digestible energy for maintenance was calculated to
be DEmaint = 345 J per g body mass and for digestible protein DPmaint = 7.5mg per g shrimp per day. The partial
efficiencies of utilization for growth above maintenance were 0.31 and 0.44 for digestible energy and digestible
protein respectively. The daily weight gain (g) as a function of body weight (g) could be described at a temperature
of 280C by the following equation: y = 0.05 × BW (g)0.582. The composition of the gain was determined by analyzing
whole shrimp ranging from 1 to 35g. The energy and protein contents were independent upon shrimp weight and
were on average 4.844 kJ g-1 and 172 mg g-1 body mass respectively.
Based on those results, feeds can be formulated for growing Litopenaeus vannamei with optimal energy to protein
ratio during the entire grow-out period to increase retention efficiency and reduce excretion of nutrients.