Saving tiger shrimp
A two-day Indo-Norwegian project on genetic improvement of Penaeus monodon (tiger shrimp) through selective breeding for growth and white spot disease resistance took place at the Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, Raja Annamalaipuram July 4.
Officials of the Institute of Aquaculture Research Ltd, (AKVAFORSK), Norway, Central Institute of Fisheries Education (Indian Council of Agriculture Research), Mumbai, and Central Institute of Brackish Water Aquaculture (Indian Council of Agriculture Research) took part in the workshop.
Dr P Ravichandran, director, Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, Chennai, said, “Shrimp farming in coastal maritime states is one of the major contributors of foreign exchange of the country with an annual contribution of about Rs 4,000 crore. Presently, shrimp farming is practised in about 1,50,000 hectares, which is hardly 15 per cent of the total potential area of 1.2 million ha available in the country. The Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA), one of the eight fisheries research institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (lCAR), caters to the research and development needs of the brackishwater aquaculture sector in the country.”
Mother shrimps collected from the wild are potential carriers of viral pathogens, which are being transmitted vertically to the shrimp larvae. Talking about the attack of viral pathogens, Ravichandran pointed out that there is no cure when a shrimp is attacked by the viruses but it can be prevented from viral attack.
To prevent the attack of viral diseases, one should follow good management practices in harvesting and the water in which it is cultivated should be good. The most important aspect is that the shrimps should have a good level of immunisation, for which various methods, like immuno stimulation (killing bacteria in heat and adding it to the shrimps’ daily diet), progratic method (adding living bacteria to the shrimps’ daily diet) will increase the immunisation level of shrimps.
Development of captive broodstock, through domestication under highly bio-secure conditions, will lead to the production of specific pathogen free stock, which may still be susceptible to viral diseases once they reach the open farm. On the other hand, genetic improvement of shrimps through selective breeding for resistance to viral diseases, leading to the production of specific pathogen-resistant varieties is the ultimate solution to prevent the occurrence of viral diseases.
With this objective, a collaborative project on “genetic improvement of Penaeus monodon (tiger shrimp) through selective breeding for growth and white spot disease resistance” has been formulated under an agreement among lCAR and AKVAFORSK, with CIBA and ClFE, Mumbai, as implementing agencies.
The project is supported under the Indo-Norwegian programme of institutional cooperation. The project envisages creation of a wide genetic pool of Penaeus monodon by collection and cross-breeding genetically variable stocks from different parts of the country, selection of resistant families through viral challenge and breeding them to produce shrimp families which are resistant to viral pathogens.
The project was launched July 4 by Dr S Ayyappan, deputy director general (Fisheries), ICAR, at the workshop organised by CIBA. The project counterparts from Norway, Dr Morten
Rye, Dr Ben Hayes and Dr Jom Thodesan, outlined the significance of the project.
Experts from various research organisations, academic and agricultural universities and officials from state fisheries departments, aquaculture authority, private entrepreneurs and NGOs participated in the workshop.
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