Three isoenergetic semi-purified diets, containing 28.0% (P1), 37.2% (P2) and 45.7% (P3) protein levels, were prepared. Each diet was fed to duplicate groups of shrimp (initial weight: 0.29±0.14 g) for 8 weeks. Results from this study indicated that shrimp fed with 37.2% and 45.7% protein diets had a significantly (p＜0.05) higher specific growth rate than shrimp fed with 28.0% protein diet. Protein efficiency ratio in shrimp fed with 28.0% and 37.2% protein diets were higher than shrimp fed with 45.7% protein diet. Food conversion rates and survival of the shrimp were not affected by the dietary treatment (p＞0.05). This data suggests that 37% of dietary protein is adequate for juvenile white-leg shrimp reared in an indoor super-intensive recircular culture system under the condition temperature of 26-28℃, salinity 20-25 ppt, and a density of 250 shrimp/m2.
Key words: White-leg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, Dietary protein requirement.