CSIRO-Viet Uc White Shrimp Breeding Program

CSIRO’s collaboration with Viet Uc on the White Shrimp Breeding Program is an exemplar of a cross-country partnership resulting in productivity gains and opportunities for expansion in the shrimp industry and enhanced global reputation.

Vietnam is one of the world’s largest shrimp producers in the world. White Shrimp, a species originating from the Americas, account for over 60 per cent of total shrimp farming output in Vietnam and are an essential aquaculture industry for the country. The Vietnamese white shrimp industry developed using imported broodstock to supply seedstock to commercial farms. However, sole reliance on imported broodstock creates supply chain dependence and lessens opportunity to develop shrimp tailored to Vietnamese farming conditions.

The Viet Uc Seafood Corporation is the largest hatchery business in Vietnam with an annual capacity to supply more than 50 billion postlarvae seedstock to farmers. Viet Uc began to expand its scope of business to incorporate in‑house breeding in 2010 for the purpose of removing reliance on imported broodstock.

Starting from 2011, CSIRO worked with Viet Uc to develop a selective breeding program and an associated program of strategic research and development through successive collaborative research agreements. The research focused on devising breeding approaches balancing the need to push for genetic improvement while accounting for the biological constraints of the species and the practical constraints of the business.

The program and research focus has been to improve harvest weight of the breeding lines, while also monitoring and maintaining qualities of other traits such as survival and colouration. The collaborative arrangements see Viet Uc responsible for all aspects of infrastructure design and construction, shrimp husbandry and pathogen screening, while CSIRO provides genetic advisory services based on large amounts of performance data collected on the breeding populations.

The program has led to system improvements, skills development, genetically improved breeding lines, and other outcomes that have, or will, enhance aquaculture productivity and growth prospects in Vietnam, and provide important learnings in Australia, e.g.

• an in-house production system for producing high performing breeding lines at Viet Uc, providing a price competitive and reliable, domestic supply of seedstock for Vietnam
• productivity gains, incl. percentage gain in the harvest body weight and in harvest survival for the breeding population families
• a diverse genetic resource within the breeding population to allow long-term sustainability of the program.

Moreover, the international collaboration has created an avenue for the exchange of knowledge, and wider access to markets and research at a scale which would not otherwise be available. An international partnership enhances the productivity, competitiveness and capability of Vietnam and Australia’s aquaculture sectors.

CSIRO Aquaculture contact
Dr Greg Coman – Senior Research Scientist