Growth performance and growth model fitting of Litopenaeus vannamei cultured in pond and factory modes

Abstract

The Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) is an important aquaculture species and understanding its growth performance in different life stages and in different culture modes is crucial for improving production. To date, few comparative studies of growth models for different cultivation modes for the same population have been reported. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the most appropriate model for describing the growth performance of L. vannamei cultured in pond and factory cultivation modes. We applied four nonlinear models (Logistic, Gompertz, Von Bertalanffy, and Brody) to fit growth data (body length (BL) and body weight (BW)) measured every month for seven months. The best fit models were selected based on the R2, adj.R2, Akaike information criterion (AIC), weight of evidence in favor of model i (Wi), root mean square error (RMSE), and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). The results showed that both BL and BW growth were better under pond culture compared to factory culture (P < 0.05). Additionally, the shrimp in both culture modes showed positive allometric growth throughout their lives. The Gompertz and logistic models were the optimum models for BL data under pond and factory cultivation, respectively, whereas the Gompertz model was most suitable for the BW data for both culture modes. Furthermore, the inflection point of BL and BW in pond culture occurred earlier than that in factory cultivation. In summary, small producers and fishermen could adjust the ratio between pond and factory farming to improve their ability to meet the demand of China’s shrimp market.

Keywords

• Litopenaeus vannamei
• Growth performance
• Cultivation mode
• Growth model