Prophylactic health products use in Penaeus vannamei farming in Andhra Pradesh: Perception of shrimp farmers of north, central and south coastal regions

Abstract

Antibiotic residues in shrimp meat pose food safety threats and trade implications. Shrimp farmers employ prophylactic health products, commonly known as probiotics (gut, water and soil probiotics), to prevent disease occurrence thereby negating the need for the use of antibiotics in shrimp health management. Information on the use of probiotics, decision on probiotic selection and farming practices was elicited from 182 Penaeus vannamei shrimp farmers of Andhra Pradesh from four districts representing the north coastal (Srikakulam District), central coastal (East Godavari and West Godavari districts) and south coastal (Nellore District) districts, by questionnaire based survey. Majority of the farmers (50 % ) used only one probiotic during the rearing of P. vannamei but 15 % farmers used up to three probiotics. P. vannamei farmers used 45 different probiotics brands and the probiotic brand was mostly co-selected with the feed brand. Feed technician (employee of the feed manufacturer involved in marketing and promotion of feed) alone was responsible for the selection of the probiotic brand to be used by 52 % of shrimp farmers in Srikakulam, 50 % of shrimp farmers in East Godavari, 40 % of shrimp farmers in West Godavari and 32 % of shrimp farmers in Nellore districts. More than 30 % of the shrimp farmers of West Godavari, Nellore and East Godavari took a neutral stance on the performance of the probiotic but were still using probiotics as a safety measure. The baseline data on prophylactic health products usage is the first step in understanding the dynamics of probiotic use and underlines the need for concerted research to assess the quality of these products (in terms of label claims) that are used by shrimp farmers in significant quantities that profoundly influence the production cost.