Synbiotics as a management tool for improving nursery efficiency

Nursery systems continue to grow in popularity in both Asia and the Americas. Obvious benefits include shorter grow-out cycles, control over early disease outbreaks, limited water exchange, improved feed management, control over culture medium, and improved shrimp health prior to transfer to the grow-out phase. Due to recent problems with the quality of post-larvae coming from commercial hatcheries in both Asia and the Americas, nursery systems also serve as a “quarantine” to eliminate weak, unhealthy juveniles while transferring the survivors.