The use of vaccines in the culture of penaeid prawns

Abstract

The increased incidence of diseases in cultured shrimp coupled with a growing awareness of the problems of the use of antibiotics in controlling such diseases has led to the development of alternative methods of disease control. Vaccines against several strains of luminous and non-luminous bacterial pathogens were tested for their efficacy in both small scale and commercial scale culture systems of Penaeus indicus and P. monodon larvae and postlarvae. Formalin-killed bacteria and vaccines consisting of live attenuated strains of pathogenic bacteria produced by UV light mutagenesis gave a significant degree (p < 0.05) of protection against subsequent infection by virulent pathogens when compared to non-vaccinated controls in small scale culture systems.