Production characteristics of intensive whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) farming in four Vietnam Provinces

Whiteleg (Litopenaeus vannamei) and black tiger (Penaeus monodon) shrimp are the most common farm-based shrimp species cultured in Vietnam, but there have been few studies of intensive whiteleg shrimp production. The objectives of this study were to describe production characteristics and to identify factors associated with yield in intensive shrimp production systems in Vietnam. This study included data from shrimp farms in four Vietnam provinces, collected from mid-2014 to early 2016. The data included key production characteristics, such as length of production cycle, number and quality of postlarvae (PL) stocked, feed intake, production yield (kg/m2), harvest size (shrimp/kg), average weight and water quality measurements for some of the crops. We report descriptive statistics for the production parameters and findings from two linear mixed models describing the associations of these parameters with two outcomes: production yield and average weight of shrimp. The average stocking density for the 846 crops included in the dataset was 109 PL/m2, average length of production cycle was 92 days, and average production yield was 1.15 kg/m2. The shrimp gained 0.2 g per day, on average, and consumed an average of 0.17 kg of feed, daily/1,000 PL stocked. The linear mixed models indicated that stocking density, stocking month and region were the main predictors for production yield, while water temperature 4 weeks prior and PL quality were the main predictors for the average weight of shrimp, after accounting for the length of production cycle. This study describes baseline production parameters for whiteleg shrimp production in Vietnam.