Abstract

MCDONAL-VERA, Alejandro et al. Effect of Red tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus × Oreochromis niloticus) on growth and survival of the pacific shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) in simultaneous polyculture under marine conditions. Biotecnia [online]. 2020, vol.22, n.2, pp.5-12.  Epub Aug 07, 2020. ISSN 1665-1456.  https://doi.org/10.18633/biotecnia.v22i2.1237.

In the present investigation, we evaluated if the presence of tilapia affects growth and survival of shrimp during pre-growth and grow-out phases. In both experiments, we used a random-blocks design in a single earth pond (0.75 ha) that was prepared and divided into nine (7 x 30 m) enclosures that were considered to be three blocks of three enclosures each. Each randomly stocked block consisted on Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (30 shrimp/m2) and three different densities (0.0, 0.25 and 0.50 fish/m2) of red tilapia hybrids (Oreochromis mossambicus x Oreochromis niloticus) to give three different treatments with three replicates. The results from the pre-growth and grow-out experiments followed the same trend. In both cases, we found no significant statistical differences (P>0.05) in the final average weight of the shrimp. However, the experimental blocks had a significant (P<0.05) effect on the mean sample weight of shrimp. Shrimp in blocks B and C were significantly bigger than shrimp from block A (P<0.05). For both experiments, we found no effect of the presence of tilapias on survival or growth of shrimp.

Keywords : Tilapia-shrimp polyculture; random block experiment; fish and crustaceans.