Thursday, March 31, 2011

Tilapia helps prevent deadly virus against shrimp

Researchers at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) have found that raising white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in the same pond promotes an ecological balance and a healthy development of both species, as well as preventing the death of crustaceans by the white spot virus.

This initiative, by the aquaculture engineer Frederico Santos da Costa, consists of a polyculture system which originally had another purpose: that small farmers in Santa Catarina have an alternative income from tilapia farming if their shrimp production was lost due to white spot, reports Ciência Hoje. This disease severely affected shrimp from the coast of Santa Catarina in 2004 and led to losses of BRL 6 million (US$3.6 million) (UK£ 2.239 million) for producers. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers.
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