Pond production of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, fed grain distillers dried yeast

The objective of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of four diets formulated to contain increasing levels (0, 50, 100 and 150 g kg −1 of diet) of grain distillers dried yeast ( GDDY ) in production diets for Litopenaeus vannamei , reared in outdoor tanks or production ponds. The production pond trial was carried out in 16, 0.1‐ha ponds using four replicates per diet. Juvenile shrimp (38.1 ± 4.26 mg, initial weight) were stocked at 30 shrimp m −2 for a 16‐week period. The same four diets and a commercial reference diet were offered to shrimp maintained in outdoor tanks over a 12‐week period. A total of 20 tanks were stocked with juvenile shrimp (3.05 ± 0.22 g, initial weight) obtained from production ponds at a density of 30 shrimp per tank (40 shrimp m −2 ). At the conclusion of these trials, mean final weight ranged from 19.77 to 23.05 g, yield ranged between 4760 and 5606 kg ha −1 , survival ranged from 69.6% to 89.4%, and feed conversion ratio ( FCR ) was between 1.02 and 1.23. Shrimp reared in the outdoor tanks confirmed the results of the pond trial. Mean final weight ranged between 18.12 and 18.97 g, survival ranged from 93.3% to 98.3%, and FCR was between 1.25 and 1.29. In both trials, there were no significant differences regarding mean final weight, FCR and survival among dietary treatments. Based on this study, GDDY up to 150 g kg −1 of diet can be used in L. vannamei commercial feed formulation.