Larvicultura comercial do camarão de água DOCE Macrobrachium rosenbergii: teste de alimentação e manual de identificação larval

Abstract

In the production of Macrobrachium rosenbergii, larviculture is the precursor of the entire production chain and one of its most important phases, as it enables the initiation of farming and the improvement of techniques and management, thereby structuring and strengthening the entire production chain. In larviculture, the main challenge is to promote favorable zootechnical production indices. To achieve this, the administration of adequate feed is essential, as it directly affects survival and the duration of larval development. However, a viable alternative can be found in adapting the use of commercial feeds for the larviculture of Penaeus vannamei (marine shrimp) to the larviculture of M. rosenbergii, considering that the inert feed used includes artisanal feeds already part of the standard protocol. This study aimed to develop techniques for optimizing management in a commercial larviculture system, conducting tests with practical (artisanal) and commercial diets to evaluate the zootechnical potential of larviculture and to develop a quick identification manual for larval stages. The test was conducted in a commercial system for the production of post-larvae of the freshwater shrimp M. rosenbergii in the municipality of Macau, located in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Two treatments with two replicates each were carried out, with each experimental unit stocked with 90,000 larvae. The treatments using commercial and artisanal feeds, respectively, resulted in survival rates of 52%±7.1 and 53%±2.8, larviculture durations of 24.5±1.4 and 24.5±0.7 days, PL/g of 110±6 and 116±20, and average lengths of 10.5±0.8 mm and 10.5±0.8 mm. During the monitoring of larval development, a practical manual was created for producers to facilitate the identification of M. rosenbergii larval stages and to optimize production time. Therefore, this study may broaden the perspective of production by suggesting that wet and commercial diets for marine shrimp larviculture do not differ in terms of the zootechnical potential of the animals.