Aquaculture production of penaeid shrimp larvae is constrained by costly and unreliable supplies of live food, especially Artemia nauplii. Despite Japanese and European commercialization of high quality larval feeds, a complete replacement for Artemia has not yet emerged. Larval shrimp production continues to be an industry bottleneck. This research is to formulate and test a complex microencapsulated feed consisting of <10 um, lipid- walled microcapsules and high quality micronutrients stabilized within 45 to 500 um microgel particles. Lipid-walled microcapsules will be produced by a modified double-emulsion process, and they will contain water- soluble micronutrients in the payload (core material). Microgel particles will be formed by ionic gelation and they will consist of a protein-enriched hydrocolloid matrix. Unlike permeable crosslinked protein microcapsules, these complex microcapsules will be vitamin-impermeable and maintain nutrient balance. In-vitro vitamin-leaching rates will be correlated with growth and survival of penaeid shrimp larvae to evaluate R&D feasibility. Commercialization potential will be evident from the in-vitro analytic values and whole-animal responses to test feeds.
