The productivity of ponds relying on natural productivity alone or natural productivity boosted by fertilization rarely exceeds 500 kg ha^-1 per crop. Feeding is essential if greater yields are required. The need for feed in shrimp culture is linked to the stocking density employed, placing it at densities greater than 2-5 shrimp m^-2 for Penaeus monodon and above 5-10 shrimp m^-2 for P. indicus (Lee & Wickins, 1992).

The quantity of feed used should be based on regular estimates of the standing crop and should be reviewed daily in the light of water quality measurements and in some cases observations of food remains. If weekly regular growth increments fall seriously below target, feeding rates should only be increased if it can be established that there is no water quality problem and that the great bulk of applied feed is being readily consumed. If adequate growth cannot be maintained it may be necessary to harvest all or part of the crop or switch to a diet with a higher protein content. Certainly there is no sense in adding feed to a pond where no growth is being registered (Lee & Wickins, 1992).

The normal feeding rate can be expressed in terms of percent body weight per day and this percentage in most systems will decline as the average size of the animals increases. The feeding rate for a whole pond will be the relevant percentage of the standing crop (Lee & Wickins, 1992).

The utilization of feeds can be improved by increasing the number of applications per day. Two to four feeds per day are usual in semi-intensive shrimp cultures. Feeds are usually broadcast by hand either from the pond banks or from small boats. Mechanization is possible using feed blowers and the operators of one very large Ecuadorian shrimp farm (1600 ha) found it convenient to distribute pellets using an adapted crop-spraying aircraft (Lee & Wickins, 1992).