Simão Zacarias is currently in Thailand for the last research trials of his PhD. Offspring (larvae, post-larvae and juveniles) produced from non-ablated broodstock have been demonstrated to perform similarly to those from ablated parents in larviculture, nursery and grow-out. Salinity stress testing of juveniles (a common method used by shrimp farmers to check post-larval quality when sourcing), however, suggests that non-ablated females can produce more post-larvae that are more resilient (for more details on the findings of this study, please refer to my recent paper which can be accessed at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0044848618312547). There is, therefore, a need to determine the disease resistance of the different sources of post-larvae (PL) under carefully controlled disease challenge conditions, information resulting from these trials can be an added value for farmers when sourcing PL. Trials are in progress and are being conducted in collaboration with Fish Vet Group Asia using VpAHPND and WSSV challenge models. The work has been made possible through the financial support of the Global Aquaculture Alliance and Labeyrie Fine Foods

If you would like to know more about this research project, Simão would be pleased to hear from you by e-mail