Volumen 45 - Número 3: 519-524 | 2010
Research Note

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Nitrogen budget in intensive cultures of Litopenaeus vannamei in mesocosms, with zero water exchange and artificial substrates

Juan M. Audelo-Naranjo¹, Luis R. Martínez-Córdova² and Domenico Voltolina^3*

¹Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Paseo Claussen s/n, Col. Los Pinos, P.O. Box 610, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México

²Universidad de Sonora, Departamento de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Rosales y Blvd. Luis Encinas s/n, P.O. Box 1819, Hermosillo, Sonora, México

³Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, Laboratorio UAS-CIBNOR, P.O. Box 1132, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México

 *This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

After 29 days without water exchanges, 55% of the total nitrogen (N) inputs were retained as shrimp biomass in 1 m³ cultures of juvenile Litopenaeus vannamei with artificial substrates (Aquamats^®), in comparison to 37.2 to 44.8% without Aquamats. The N discharged with the effluent was 1.8-2.3% of the inputs, and the sediments contained 35.9-37.3% of the N inputs without Aquamats and 14.7 to 13.6% with Aquamats. In these, close to 16% of the N inputs were in the periphyton, indicating that additional substrates are an attractive alternative for nutrient recycling in shrimp farms operating as closed systems.

Key words: Aquamats^®, periphyton, nitrogen recycling

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