Acute Toxicity of Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate to Shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei Postlarvae in Low-Salinity Water

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology Vol. 101; no. 2; pp. 229 - 234
• Main Authors: Valencia-Castañeda, Gladys, Frías-Espericueta, Martin G., Vanegas-Pérez, Ruth C., Pérez-Ramírez, Jesús A., Chávez-Sánchez, María C., Páez-Osuna, Federico
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acute toxicity; Ammonia; Ammonia - toxicity; ammonium nitrogen; Animals; Aquaculture; Aquatic Pollution; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; lethal concentration 50; Litopenaeus vannamei; nitrate nitrogen; Nitrates; Nitrates - toxicity; nitrite nitrogen; Nitrites; Nitrites - toxicity; Nitrogen compounds; Nitrogen dioxide; Penaeidae; Pollution; postlarvae; Salinity; Salinity effects; Shellfish; Shellfish farming; shrimp; shrimp culture; Soil Science & Conservation; Toxicity; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Ammonia; Nitrate; Nitrite; Safe level; Acute toxicity; Litopenaeus vannamei
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-018-2355-z

Shrimp farming in low salinities waters is an alternative to increasing production, and counteracting disease problems in brackish and marine waters. However, in low-salinity waters, toxicity of nitrogen compounds increases, and there is no available data of its acute toxicity in shrimp postlarvae. This study determined the acute toxicity of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in Litopenaeus vannamei postlarvae in 1 and 3 g/L salinity, as well as the safety levels. The LC 50 confirms that nitrite is more toxic than ammonia and nitrate in low salinity waters, and that its toxicity increases with a decrease in salinity. The safe levels estimated for salinities of 1 and 3 g/L were 0.54 and 0.81 mg/L for total ammonia–N, 0.17 and 0.25 mg/L for NO 2 –N, and 5.6 and 21.5 mg/L for NO 3 –N, respectively.