THE EFFECTS ON FRESHWATER SHRIMP SURVIVAL DURING WATERLESS SHIPMENT USING A Z ITE PACKAGING ENVIRONMENT

Live shipment of aquatic animals has increased over the last ten years, sparking both more interest (providing a larger market through product diversification) and a broader geographical market. To be commercially competitive in the world market, it is becoming increasingly more important to be able to deliver a live product. Increasing the survival time during transfer without increasing shipping costs by sending the animals in a dry environment, would enlarge the geographic radius of shipment, making it possible for aquaculture producers to be more competitive in exporting their products worldwide. Methods had already been developed to ship freshwater shrimp (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) live for 17 hours (pretreated for five minutes at 10° C and stored at 17° C and 50% relative humidity). It was also known that metabolic changes occur several hours before death in kurama prawns. What was not known was whether methods of removing toxic metabolic by-products from the shipping environment would increase these survival times even further. Zeolites are commonly used in animal production systems to reduce the content of ammonia and other forms of nitrogen by-productrs in the growth medium. The survival rates of shrimp with and without zeolite inside the shipping containers are reported. Recommendations of conditions for the highest survival rate are made. To better understand the efficacy of the zeolite treatment reported here complete nitrogen budgets for treated and untreated shrimps are going to be conducted