Intensification of Penaeid Shrimp Culture: An Applied Review of Advances in Production Systems, Nutrition and Breeding

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The shrimp sector has been one of the fastest-growing agri-food systems in the last 10 years. To overcome the increasing market demand, the transition to the intensification of shrimp farming is a reality in many countries. In addition, the desire to mitigate the risks posed by pathogens has driven many farmers to preference more controlled intensive systems with higher biosecurity. Shrimp nutrition and breeding are other areas that have directly enabled and improved intensification and will continue to be critical to ongoing growth in this sector. From this perspective, the aim of this review is to provide an update of the current production systems and strategies and explore the advances and key contributions that nutrition, breeding, and pathogen surveillance are having towards intensification and super-intensive shrimp culture. ABSTRACT: Intensification of the shrimp sector, also referred to as vertical expansion, has been predominately driven by consecutive incidences of global disease outbreaks, which have caused enormous economic loss for the main producer countries. A growing segment of the shrimp farming industry has opted to use production systems with higher density, biosecurity, and operating control to mitigate the risks posed by disease. However, successful super-intensive shrimp production is reliant on an advanced understanding of many important biological and economic parameters in the farming system, coupled with effective monitoring, to maintain optimal production. Compared to traditional extensive or semi-intensive systems, super-intensive systems require higher inputs of feed, energy, labor, and supplements. These systems are highly sensitive to the interactions between these different inputs and require that the biological and economical parameters of farming are carefully balanced to ensure success. Advancing nutritional knowledge and tools to support consistent and efficient production of shrimp in these high-cost super-intensive systems is also necessary. Breeding programs developing breeding-lines selected for these challenging super-intensive environments are critical. Understanding synergies between the key areas of production systems, nutrition, and breeding are crucial for super-intensive farming as all three areas coalesce to influence the health of shrimp and commercial farming success. This article reviews current strategies and innovations being used for Litopenaeus vannamei in production systems, nutrition, and breeding, and discusses the synergies across these areas that can support the production of healthy and high-quality shrimp in super-intensive systems. Finally, we briefly discuss some key issues of social license pertinent to the super-intensive shrimp farming industry.