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There were two sessions on shrimp nutrition and feeds at Aquaculture 2004 that saw presentation of about 20 papers. There were also other sessions in the meeting that had one or two papers on shrimp nutrition. On 5th May, Dr. Addison Lawrence of Texas A&M University had organized a session just to review recent advances in shrimp nutrition. The speakers in this session covered research findings after 1997, the year in which the book “Crustacean Nutrition” by D’Abramo, Conklin and Akiyama was published. The speakers were also specifically asked to focus on the changes in nutrient requirements of the species in low saline environments and low water exchange systems. The speakers and their respective topics were:

(1) Amino acids ... Dr. Gerard Cuzon
(2) Protein: Energy ratio ... Dr. Joe Fox
(3) Fatty acids ... Dr. Martin Perez-Velazquez
(4) Phospholipids & Cholesterol ... Dr. Hui Gong
(5) Minerals ... Dr. Allen Davis

Table 1 provides the updated requirements reviewed by the authors. Following are some of the interesting points from the presentations:

• Limited study on low salinity environments shows that there might be an increased requirement in dietary protein. This may be due to increased osmoregulation which will need more gluconeogenic amino acids and result in higher catabolism of amino acids.
• Optimum Protein/Energy ratio for L. vannamei may be lower than that of P. monodon.
• Dietary carbohydrate levels exceeding 33% leads to a-amylase saturation of the hepatopancreas, limits glucose production, and glycogen saturation of the hepatopancreas.
• Relatively low carbohydrate diets are recommended for low salinity environments as dietary proteins are used as a source of osmoregulatory amino acids.
• Dietary inclusion of phospholipids improves the ability of shrimp to tolerate osmotic stress in low salinity.
• Potassium and magnesium are most likely required in the diets of shrimp grown in low salinity. Dietary supplementation with K, Mg and NaCl may help shrimp grown in low salinity.

Table 1. Nutrient requirements of penaeid shrimp (Penaeus monodon and Litopenaeus vannamei) recently reported in the literature and reviewed by speakers at the Shrimp Feeds & Nutrition session.

* There is a significant interaction between phospholipids and cholesterol: as phospholipid levels increase, cholesterol requirement decreases. Cholesterol requirement is 0.35% when no phospholipids are present in the diet, but only 0.13% when phospholipid level is 3% of diet.

** In the absence of phospholipids. Dietary choline can be provided by phospholipids, but not vice versa.