Economic and Production evaluation of Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei Boone, 1931) in conventional and biofloc aquaculture systems

In the current study, economic performance and production of Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) were studied in conventional and biofloc aquaculture systems. Shrimp juveniles with a weight of 2.56±0.33 g (M ± SD) were fed for 5 weeks in fiberglass tanks with 180 liters volume and density of 1gr shrimp per liter in four treatments including one control group with water exchange (100% artificial feed) and three biofloc treatments, 100%, 66.6% and 33.3% artificial feed (without water exchange). According to the results, considering the values of water quality parameters and production and economic performances of Penaeus vannamei, there were significant differences between two systems (P <0.05). The highest increase in body weight, growth rate (0.136 g per day), specific growth rate (3 %/day), survival rate (90.48%) and feed efficiency were obtained in biofloc treatments (P<0.05). The maximum level of profitability obtained in biofloc systems, that showed significant difference compared with conventional system (P<0.05). Results of this study highlights the production and economic performance of Penaeus vannamei in juvenile stage could be improved with biofloc system; and the presence of biofloc improves economic performance of Penaeus vannamei in zero water exchange system.