Left to right: R. Balaraman, Mark Rowel Napulan, Muthukaruppan (VP AISHA), Padmanabha Reddy (Priyanka Enterprises), Panchu (Uni Bio SPF Monodon hatchery), Ravikumar (Golden Marine Harvest Group of Hatcheries), Kalraj (President AISHA , Tamil Nadu Chapter & MD Royal Shrimp Hatchery)
Called EZ Artemia Ultra, it is the third generation of a diet that was originally developed as a synthetic substitute for Artemia, but according to its manufacturer – Zeigler Bros – the new “formulation exceeds the attractability, digestibility and nutritional value of Artemia nauplii.”
Zeigler launched the new diet with Priyanka Enterprises at the end of March in Golden Bay Resorts Koovathur, Tamil Nadu. The launch of the third generation of EZ Artemia was attended by over 50 participants, representing 32 big hatcheries from the Chennai coastal region.
According to Zeigler, the diet contains highly digestible microparticles which have been “microencapsulated to protect sensitive pigments, fatty acids, enzymes, vitamins and other nutrients” in an easy-to-consume matrix.
Over the past few years Zeigler R&D claims to have “improved the formulation to incorporate new powerful ingredients while removing terrestrial proteins”.
“A second area of advancement was on the manufacturing process, enabling the incorporation of more nutrients into each microcapsule, improving digestibility, making the capsules more buoyant while maintaining water stability. The third area of focus was in demonstrating performance improvement. Product development efforts focused on feeding of EZ Artemia as the sole diet for PL 2-12, assuring maximum performance and improved larval fitness and gut health as demonstrated by higher survivals and growth,” the company said in a press release.
The launch was hosted by Balaraman Radakrishnan, newly appointed general manager of Priyanka Enterprises.
Mark Rowel Napulan, sales manager of Zeigler Bros in Asia, led the event with a presentation emphasising the importance of increased biosecurity and understanding potential pathogen carriers to produce clean post-larvae.
He pointed to the need to balance the risk between using live and fresh feeds versus post-larvae productivity.
“After three years of continued research and development work at our Z-ARC (Zeigler Aquaculture Research Center) in Florida, I am very excited to present to you the key distinct features of this improved product. This diet now comes with much improved buoyancy making the particles remain suspended in water column for indefinite period with good aeration, maximizing productivity from flat as well as parabolic larval systems. We have incorporated our special blends of Rescue probiotics into the micro-capsules to promote gut health and help protect shrimp against pathogenic vibrio. In the liquid fraction, we have incorporated our Remediate water quality probiotic blend designed for waste digestion and toxic gas control for a healthier tank environment. The formulation includes V-Pak, Zeigler’s immune enhancement feed additive for stress and disease tolerance,” he said.
According to Napulan, some hatchery managers have found that continued feeding of EZ Artemia Ultra after discontinuation of feeding of Artemia nauplii helped reduce cannibalism and resulted in significantly higher survival rates
He added that – as a partial Artemia replacement – laboratory and field studies have demonstrated improved lipid deposition, growth and survival compared to control tanks fed with 100 percent Artemia nauplii. In addition, production costs were reduced, and profits were increased.
According to Zeigler, EZ Artemia Ultra has also been demonstrated to successfully replace 100 percent of the Artemia, “eliminating the need for the additional capital and labour expense associated with Artemia hatching systems”.
“Complete replacement of artemia significantly reduces the risk of Vibrio and microsporidian contamination, while improving the gut health of the larvae and the environmental health of the larval rearing tank,” the company claims.
