IMNV virus, which has been a major concern for shrimp farmers, now has an antidote. The virus started to attack shrimp farms in Brazil in 2004, before spreading to Indonesia in 2006.
“Through a long and in-depth process of modern scientific research, PT Central Proteina Prima Tbk. (CP Prima) has found a formula to solve the IMNV virus problem, which has been a problem in shrimp farming not only in Indonesia but also in some other countries”, said George Basoeki, Head of Corporate Communications PT Central Proteina Prima Tbk. However, the implementation of this solution must be accompanied by tight bio-security standards, good aquaculture practices, and the use of good quality feed and fry. “Those are the absolute requirements in ensuring the formula works optimally,” said George.
IMNV experiments were carried-out in a control and a treatment. Both groups were infected with IMNV virus. “The results from repeated experiments showed that the formulation was proven to be effective in protecting shrimps from the virus, as there was no mortality in shrimps in the treatment group. While in the control group, the mortality rate was 43 percent”, said George.
According to Ahmad Wahyudi, Vice President of Aquaculture Programs & Data Centre (APDC) CP Prima, since the experiment started in the beginning of 2013, the IMNV incidence in the company farm has been reduced significantly.
Currently, the solution has been applied in the shrimp farming area of PT Central Pertiwi Bahari (CPB), a subsidiary of CP Prima in Lampung.
Now the utilization level of CPB’s shrimp farm capacity has reached 85% and the rate of IMNV infection has been very low, below 1%,” continued Achmad Wahyudi. According to him, the infection decrease has been a key factor to the success of shrimp farming and has increased farmers’ profit.
In recent years, Achmad Wahyudi explained, CPB farm had become a very challenging area for shrimp farming because of the IMNV virus disease. In fact, at the height of IMNV outbreak in 2009-2012, the number of shrimp ponds affected by the disease was more than 30% of the total number of operating ponds. Therefore the condition at that time was very difficult to run sustainable shrimp farming.
The solution CP Prima has come up with is very practical for shrimp farmers to apply, through the use of specially formulated feed and application of supplemental liquid into the pond water. “The formulation is made with natural herbal extracts, which have proven to increase natural immunity of shrimps to defend against viral infection,” said George.
The application of the formula has been proven not to lower the quality of feed and shrimp produced. Through lab confirmation, SGS Indonesia—the largest independent international organization specializing in supervision, research, and global certification, reported that the use of this formulation does not reduce the high quality standards of the feed and shrimps set by international buyers.
In the near future, the special formulated shrimp feed and liquid supplement will be produced and distributed by CP Prima, with the hope of helping shrimp farmers to solve the IMNV issues and improve their welfare through shrimp farming.
“The major achievement by CP Prima scientists has increased the company’s optimism and confidence in anticipating all possibilities that could happen, especially disease related issues,” said George.
