EVALUATION OF FEEDING RATES IN THE PRODUCTION OF LITOPENAEUS VANNAMEI SHRIMP USING ARTIFICIAL SUBSTRATES

The objective of this study was to evaluate the the influence of feeding rate and different artificial substrates on both the water quality and growth performance of Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp. The experimental design was randomized blocks with five treatments and four replicates, with a density of 30 shrimp m-2 and mean weight of 2.8 g. The experiment lasted 49 days, and during this period, artificial substrates did not influence the water quality. The increase in the feeding rate influenced the dissolved oxygen of treatments. The final average weight, average final length, final biomass, productivity, and feed conversion rate showed significant differences (p > 0.05). The best food conversion factor was provided by the treatment with a feeding rate of 2%. The treatment with a feeding rate of 4% of biomass showed the best growth performance, except for the feed conversion rate. Results showed that for the percentage of 25% of the area of artificial substrates, there is an optimum feeding rate of between 5.13% and 5.54% of shrimp biomass, resulting in maximum production.Keywords: Biofilm, natural food, diets, shrimp farming.