Evaluation of floating cages as an experimental tool for marine shrimp culture studies under practical earthen pond conditions

The New Caledonia blue shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris is commercially produced under semi-intensive rearing conditions. The size of the farming earthen ponds (5–10 ha) and the subsequent production constraints make it difficult to use them as experimental units for random experiments. Moreover, since every pond has its own characteristics, ponds' effects cannot be ruled out, thus making it hard to define true replicates.In order to design future experiments under conditions resembling those used in production, we evaluated the possible use of floating cages as experimental units with the aim of assessing treatment effects with a reasonable statistical power. To this end, two sets of floating cages were placed respectively in two different ponds in a commercial farm. In both cases the zootechnical conditions in the cages were similar in post-larvae origin, management, and diet and feeding regime.The aim of the study was to evaluate on a technical basis the possibility of rearing shrimps in floating cages set up in earthen ponds and to assess this method from a statistical standpoint. Shrimps reared in and outside the cages showed comparable growth and survival rates. The variability in the zootechnical parameters between cages, expressed as the estimated coefficient of variation (CV) for survival rate, total final biomass (g), final body weight (g), daily increment in body weight (g day^− 1) and FCR were 11.0, 13.7, 4.4, 5.4, and 7.0%, respectively. On the basis of these figures, we calculated for a given statistical power (80%) the number of replicates (cages) that would be required to reveal significant differences between two treatments, at a 5% level of significance. We found that for expected differences of 20% from the control mean, 3 and 6 floating cages per treatment would be reasonable to determine statistical differences for growth parameters and survival rate, respectively. Moreover, we showed a significant pond effect in regard to survival and growth between the two sets of cages. These results illustrated the within-farm variability among the ponds, and confirmed that the specific characteristics of each pond from the same farm make it difficult to use the ponds themselves as experimental units.The study demonstrates that rearing in floating cages is an economical, powerful and sensitive experimental tool for shrimp culture studies specifically carried out under conditions close to semi-intensive production.     

Morphological and histological characterization of an ectopically mineralized structure in a gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata with opercular deformation

In this study, we describe an abnormal ectopically mineralized structure (EMS) that was found inside the skull of a juvenile Sparus aurata that also showed a bilateral opercular deformation. The overall phenotype and tissue composition were studied using micro‐CT scanning and histological analyses. The ectopic structure occupies a large volume of the brain cavity, partially extruding into the gill cavity. It shows a dense mineralization and an extracellular matrix‐rich phenotype, with variation in both the morphology and size of the cell lacunae, combined with an irregular fibre organization inside the matrix. This study is the first to report such an EMS in a juvenile teleost fish, where the tissue does not resemble any other connective tissue type described in bony fish so far. The tissue phenotype seems to rule out that the EMS corresponds to a tumorous cartilage. Yet, it is rather reminiscent of a highly mineralized structure found in cartilaginous fish, where it is suggested to be associated with damage repair.     

RELEVANCE OF A RAPID APPRAISAL APPROACH TO IDENTIFY LOCALLY AVAILABLE FEED INGREDIENTS TO SMALL-SCALE NILE TILAPIA (Oreochromis niloticus L.) AQUACULTURE

Applications of a rapid appraisal approach to identify locally available feed ingredients in feed formulation, production, and socio-economics of Nile tilapia aquaculture in Bangladesh are discussed. Three diets of 35%, 30%, and 25% crude protein were formulated using locally available ingredients, and their essential amino acid profiles were assessed for Nile tilapia. Six production scenarios were constructed using these diets and two culture periods of 100 and 150 days were considered. The production scenarios with 35% protein yielded the highest productivity and profitability over the 150-day culture period followed by the 30% protein scenario. Identification of locally available ingredients and their application in small-scale Nile tilapia aquaculture may lead to: (1) increased availability of inexpensive sources of fish production for poor people; (2) increased fish consumption; (3) increased self employment and involvement of women in productive activities; and (4) increased household income to reduce poverty.     

Grassland soil organic carbon and the effects of irrigated cropping in Alberta,Canada

High heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) in grasslands causes uncertainty in estimating its content and storage. In this study, we investigated the spatial distribution of SOC content and storage in the prairies of southern Alberta, Canada, and how it is affected by land use such as irrigated cropping and other environmental conditions such as cattle grazing, slope landscape position and dominant plant species. The mean SOC content was determined to be 11.5 g kg^–1 (range: 8.9 to 22.4 g kg^–1) in the 0–10 cm layer and 6.8 g kg^–1 (range: 4.0 to 13.3 g kg^–1) in the 10–30 cm layer; mean SOC storage was 1.59 kg C m^–2 (range: 1.23 to 2.78 kg C m^–2) in the 0–10 cm layer and 2.07 kg C m^–2 (range: 1.21 to 3.62 kg C m^–2) in the 10–30 cm layer. The SOC content was significantly affected by slope position in both the 0–10 and 10–30 cm layers, in the following order: bottom >middle > top position. Moreover, SOC storage was higher in sites dominated by shrubs than graminoid/forb communities. Thus, SOC content and storage had distinctly clustered spatial patterns throughout the study area and were significant differences between the 0–10 and 10–30 cm soil layers. Prior land-use change from arid grassland to irrigated cropland increased SOC content and storage in bulk soils.     

Hand-feel soil texture observations to evaluate the accuracy of digital soil maps for local prediction of soil particle size distribution: A case study in Central France

Digital maps of soil properties are now widely available. End-users now can access several digital soil mapping (DSM) products of soil properties, produced using different models, calibration/training data, and covariates at various spatial scales from global to local. Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide easy-to-understand tools to communicate map uncertainty and help end-users assess the reliability of DSM products for use at local scales. In this study, we used a large amount of hand-feel soil texture (HFST) data to assess the performance of various published DSM products on the prediction of soil particle size distribution in Central France. We tested four DSM products for soil texture prediction developed at various scales (global, continental, national, and regional) by comparing their predictions with approximately 3 200 HFST observations realized on a 1:50 000 soil survey conducted after release of these DSM products. We used both visual comparisons and quantitative indicators to match the DSM predictions and HFST observations. The comparison between the low-cost HFST observations and DSM predictions clearly showed the applicability of various DSM products, with the prediction accuracy increasing from global to regional predictions. This simple evaluation can determine which products can be used at the local scale and if more accurate DSM products are required.