Infectious bronchitis hatchery vaccination: comparison of traditional spray administration and a newly developed gel delivery system in field conditions

Proper control of infectious bronchitis, pursued through strict biosecurity and mass vaccination, is essential in intensive broiler production. Despite effective and routinely adopted, hatchery spray vaccination has been hypothesized to affect body temperature and wellbeing of day-old chicks. Recently, gel administration has been proposed as an alternative and proved feasible in experimental settings. In this study, IBV spray and gel vaccination were compared in field conditions. One hundred birds from the same hatch were vaccinated, half by spray and half by gel, with 793B and Mass vaccines. After vaccination, rectal temperature was measured and vaccine intake assessed. The two groups were raised for 35 days in separate pens, and swabs and blood samples were collected at multiple time points for lineage-specific molecular analyses and serology, respectively. Temperature was significantly lower in spray vaccinated chicks 10 minutes and an hour after administration. A similar trend in 793B titres was observed in both groups, while Mass-based vaccine was detected later but persisted longer in gel vaccinated chicks. No differences were observed in mean antibody titres. Compared to spray, gel administration appears equally effective and less impactful on body temperature, thus supporting its application for IBV vaccmatlon.

Aquaculture: an introductory text

This 4th edition covers issues associated with sustainable aquaculture development, culture systems, hatchery methods, nutrition and feeding of aquaculture species, reproductive strategies, harvesting, and many other topics. While its main focus is on the culture of fish, molluscs and crustaceans for food, the book also covers other forms of aquaculture, such as the production of seaweeds, recreational fish and ornamental species, as well as live foods, such as algae and rotifers that are used to feed larval shrimp and marine fish. Thoroughly updated and revised, this essential textbook now includes increased coverage of open-ocean cage culture and sea lice issues with salmon culture, coverage of the significant progress made in nutrition, including the move away from fishmeal as protein and fish oil as lipids in feed, information on biofloc technology uses, predictive impacts of climate change, probiotics, and the impact of COVID-19 on the aquaculture community, and updated aquaculture production statistics and lists of approved anaesthetics. Aquaculture remains one of the most rapidly growing agricultural disciplines, and this book remains an essential resource for all students of aquaculture and related disciplines.

General fisheries commission for the Mediterranean: report of the webinar on the experience of the aquaculture sector through best practices and mitigation measures facing the COVID-19 crisis, 1 July 2020

This report presents the outcomes of the webinar on "the experience of the aquaculture sector through best practices and mitigation measures facing the COVID-19 crisis" which took place on 1 July 2020 and was conducted over the internet and hosted on the Zoom platform for webinars. It was organized by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in cooperation with the Regional Commission for Fisheries (RECOFI). The webinar aimed to address the pandemic's effects on aquaculture production as well as on supply chains, demand, local markets and trade, and to identify best practices and mitigation measures adopted by aquaculture farmers and countries. During the first thematic session, the experts highlighted the difficulties the aquaculture sector faced due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, several mitigation approaches were pointed out: (i) specific financial support programmes designed through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF);(ii) a strong national aquaculture strategy guaranteeing self-sufficiency along the entire supply chain of shrimp farming in Saudi Arabia;(iii) the issuing of subsidies and credit loans in a timely manner to help producers in Turkey;(iv) the development of an online platform for fish auctioning to boost fisheries supply chain in Oman;(v) companies opening direct communication channels between the government and the farms in the United Arab Emirates;and (vi) solidarity between the sector and consumers, which allowed for the achievement of 50 percent of the programmed goals in the fish feed and larval industry in Tunisia. Other points addressed during the second thematic session included specific measures adopted and proposed, such as the focus on different aquaculture final products (e.g. frozen fish) and the establishment of local hatcheries and fish feed factories. The Q/A session which followed concluded the webinar.

Assessment of Tilapia–Freshwater Prawn Co-Culture Schemes in Tanks and Lake-Based Cages for Increased Farm Production

The technical viability of tilapia (I-ExCEL strain Nile or red) and giant freshwater prawn (GFP) co-culture in cages-within-tanks was evaluated while appropriate feeding protocols for tilapia-GFP co-culture in cages in a eutrophic lake were determined. Specifically, production parameters in all test species grown for five months in tank co-culture (where only tilapias were fed) were compared, while the best feeding protocol from among the following treatments: (a) Tfed—fed tilapias;(b) GFPfed—fed prawns and (c) T-GFPfed—both species fed, were defined. I-ExCEL Nile tilapias grew faster in tank co-culture whether reared singly or otherwise. However, red tilapia-GFP tank co-culture gave the best results considering key production traits in all test species (red tilapia —2.52%/day specific growth rate or SGR, 83.3% survival;GFP—1.17%/day SGR, 72.85% survival). Lake-based co-culture was technically feasible at stocking densities of 12.5/m2 for tilapia and 2.4 to 4/m2 for prawns even when only tilapias were fed;prawns grew to desired marketable sizes by thriving mainly on detritus and natural food organisms in the lake. However, further refinements can still be made to optimise the co-culture schemes to make them more sustainable and provide artisanal fish farmers options in increasing farm yields through multi-species aquaculture.