Epicore Networks reports that its Epifeed biofeed has become widely accepted around the world, only a year after it was introduced for field trials.
Ecuador is one such market, says Epicore's chief executive officer Bill Long, because Epifeed delivers "some basic and critical benefits often absent from the feeds used in the world's third-largest shrimp farming country".
Most importantly, he adds, Epifeed provides balanced nutrition in a form that is easier for larval and post-larval shrimp to eat and assimilate.
Ecuadorian farmers have had various problems maintaining profitable shrimp yields over the years. Annual survival rates have been as low as 10% - and even when they have been acceptable, the shrimp have often been too small.
Local conditions account for part of the problem, says Epicore. Because of changes between the wet and dry seasons, and the fact that the shrimp are grown outside, farm management is a challenge. Water pollution and nutritional issues are also major problems.
In searching for ways to increase survival rates and size, Epicore analysed the grow-out ponds, the second phase of the two-phase shrimp growing process.
"We realised pollution in the pond was part of the problem," says Mr. Long. "Fortunately, a microbial treatment for pollution reduction and disease control controlled the problem. We used our own product, Epicin.
"It was then realised that this problem did not start and end in the pond, but rather with the larval shrimp - the post-larvae being brought to the ponds from the hatcheries.
"Sometimes they were of high quality with high survival rates, and sometimes very low quality with significant reduction in survival.
Epifeed overcame both problems with foods engineered specifically for the critical stages in the shrimp life cycle.
The new larval feeds are designed to be complete, synthetic diets. All are prepared to supplement the algae and Artemia used to rear larvae.
For the younger larvae-zoea, mysis and early post-larval stages, the new hatchery feeds come in a liquid-based formulation called Epifeed LHF1 and LHF2.
Older shrimp, in post larval stages of growth, have been fed a new formulation of granular feeds - Epifeed GHF1 and GHF2. Their chief difference from traditional feeds is that they are much softer, and thus more palatable, says Epicore.
(article in Fish Farming International, December 1997, Vol. 24, No. 12)