2 minute read
of Nursery Feed
from THE CRUST - ISSUE #4
by THE CRUST
it is more effective and efficient. He admits that nursery feed is usually also mixed with regular feed especially to reduce costs, but still achieve optimal nursery performance. “For example, use 30% inclusion for the first 10 days, then use commercial feed and 3 days before transferring to grow-out pond feed 30% inclusion again in order to improve transfer performance” he advised.
As a farmer, Andy also advises not to use nursery feed in grow-out ponds, especially from an economic point of view. According to him, the use of nursery feed would be more effective in nursery ponds, taking into account the small dimensions of the nursery ponds and very high densities. The same thing was conveyed by Denny, “nursery feed can be used in grow-out ponds however the higher density in nursery ponds has better feeding efficiency since. This is because the PLs are tiny and spread throughout the pond, with a higher density, the feed will be consumed faster by chance.” He added, nursery ponds are usually stocked in higher densities and with higher protein feed levels.
“Because of this high den- sity, nursery ponds are operated somewhere in between grow-out and hatchery facilities. Due to the high protein content, it is important to closely maintain and avoid water quality deterioration. Having more sensitive response-time requirements than grow-out. It is important to learn how to operate nursery ponds correctly and adopt some of the practices from hatchery facilities,” said Denny.
Unpopular in Indonesia
Although it has several advantages, one of which is nursery feed is better digested by the animal in comparison to conventional feed, nursery feed remains unpopular at present. According to Denny, this is because nursery systems in Indonesia have existed for some time, but due to inadequate technique, along with false perceptions and misunderstandings, the system fell out of favour as farmers did not wish to incur additional risk. Another factor added by Salman is because currently the availability of nursery feed in Indonesia is still very limited and most of it is still imported. “Most of these feed producers also rarely provide the full program, so the interest of farmers to use nurseries is still low,” said Salman.
Denny also expressed his hope, “I expect more companies in Indonesia will adopt the use of nursery feeds in the future. Capitulation will occur in the Indonesian aquaculture industry where conventional shrimp farms without nursery systems will struggle to compete with those that adopt the system along with novel technologies.” As an example, he added, Hassanuddin Atjo, a senior shrimp expert in the industry, has experimented for more than five years on the nursery protocol with great success. Many other researchers and practitioners are following this trend looking for a commercially feasible and scalable nursery protocol in Indonesia.
Regarding the relatively high price of nursery feed, Salman suggested optimizing the nursery program to reduce the cost per juvenile produced, so that the price of nursery feed does not have much effect on the cost of the nursery. Meanwhile, according to Denny, the prices may reduce relatively as more farmers adopt nursery feeds, and less reliance on imported feeds. However, because the raw material is premium by nature, it will still be significantly more expensive than to grow-out feeds. “The main focus for these nursery feeds is for quality, not quantity,” he concluded.
