Kerala - Kochi   

Laboratory to check virus attack on shrimps

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, NOV. 23. A new Polymerised Chain Reaction (PCR) laboratory was inaugurated on Tuesday at Kumbalanghi, near here, by the Minister for Fisheries and Sports, Dominic Presentation.

The laboratory was a long-pending demand of the shrimp farmers of Kumbalanghi area where the White Spot Syndrome Virus was rampant.

The laboratory was set up by the Agency for Development of Aquaculture, Kerala (ADAK), Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and Kumbalanghi panchayat at a cost of Rs. 15 lakhs.

Official view

The laboratory would save 80 per cent of the affected farms, the ADAK officials said. Originally planned to be established at Chellanam, the laboratory was moved to Kumbalanghi when the panchayat offered space. This is the second PCR laboratory set up by the ADAK in the district, the other being at North Paravoor.

The expensive machinery installed at the unit would identify the viruses in the shrimp seedlings. A healthy farm of 30,000 seedlings in a hectare would provide marketable size of shrimp weighing 35 gm in 90 days. But the infection would kill the shrimp in 30 days.

With the inauguration of the new laboratory, the farmers can avoid taking the seedlings to the CMFRI unit at Panampilly Nagar. The farmers are sceptical about the impact of the laboratory as only the shrimp seeds brought in for culture could be checked using the PCR technology. The extent of the spread of the disease could be gauged only if the virus in the mother prawn brought from the sea is detected.

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