Evaluation of the Effects of Different Dietary Doses of an Anti-Mycotoxin Additive for Pacific White Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)

Shrimp farming often suffers due to high mortalities and poor growth. Mycotoxins can be one of the causes but often underestimated. BIŌNTE® QUIMITŌX® AQUA PLUS, an anti-mycotoxin additive (AMA) was tested to assess its efficacy and determine the best dose for Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). Four treatments (0, 1, 2, and 3 g/kg of diet) were randomly allocated in 12 aquaria during larval rearing (day 1–20) and 12 fiberglass tanks during subsequent grow-out (day 21–111). Results showed positive impacts on feed conversion, protein efficiency, survival, and growth. A decreasing trend in FCR and increasing trend in PER with the increase in AMA dose. The higher the dose, the better was the immunity as indicated by the survival of shrimp against bacterial challenge. However, the survival and growth showed significant quadratic relationships indicating that the dose of 1.4 g/kg can have the highest daily weight gain (66.7 mg) and the dose of 2.5 g/kg results in the highest survival (60.3%) which is more than double the survival of the control group (27.3%). Therefore, the doses between 1.4 and 2.5 g/kg of feed are recommended for the grow-out phase to enhance growth and survival of shrimp. However, further studies should be conducted in outdoor pond conditions for varying feeding regimes, contamination levels and stocking densities.