NUTRITIONALLY-BALANCED MICROCAPSULES FOR PENAEID SHRIMP LARVAE

AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION OF PENAEID SHRIMP LARVAE IS CONSTRAINED BY COSTLY AND UNRELIABLE SUPPLIES OF LIVE FOOD, ESPECIALLY ARTEMIA NAUPLII. DESPITE JAPANESE AND EUROPEAN COMMERCIALIZATION OF HIGH QUALITY LARVAL FEEDS, A COMPLETE REPLACEMENT FOR ARTEMIA HAS NOT YET EMERGED. LARVAL SHRIMP PRODUCTION CONTINUES TO BE AN INDUSTRY BOTTLENECK. WE PROPOSE TO FORMULATE AND TEST A COMPLEX MICROENCAPSULATED FEED CONSISTING OF <10-MUM, LIPID-WALLED MICRO-CAPSULES AND HIGH-QUALITY MACRONUTRIENTS STABILIZED WITHIN 45 TO 500 MUM MICROGEL PARTICLES. LIPID-WALLED MICROCAPSULES WILL BE PRODUCED BY A MODIFIED DOUBLE-EMULSION PROCESS, AND THEY WILL CONTAIN WATER-SOLUBLE MICRNUTRIENTS IN THE PAYLOAD (CORE MATERIAL). MICROGEL PARTICLES WILL BE FORMED BY IONIC GELATION AND THEY WILL CONSIST OF A PROTEIN-ENRICHED HYDROCOLLOID MATRIX. UNLIKE PERMEABLE CROSSLINKED PROTEIN MICROCAPSULES, OUR COMPLEX MICROCAPSULES WILL BE VITAMIN-IMPERMEABLE AND MAINTAIN NUTRIENT BALANCE. IN-VITROVITAMIN-LEACHING RATES WILL BE CORRELATED WITH GROWTH AND SURVIVAL OF PENAEID SHRIMP LARVAE TO EVALUATE R&D FEASIBILITY. COMMERCIALIZATION POTENTIAL WILL BE EVIDENT FROM THE IN-VITRO ANALYTIC VALUES AND WHOLE-ANIMAL RESPONSES TO TEST FEEDS.