The program titled “Program D. Disease Management for Improved Mud Crab Production” is composed of the following projects:
- Project 1. Novel strategies to reduce disease incidence in mud crab hatchery and grow out
- Project 2. Surveillance of emerging diseases in wild and farmed mud crabs: Application of conventional and molecular approaches
- Project 3. Prevention and Mitigation of Diseases in Mud crab Culture
This program aimed to generate scientific data that can be used as baseline information for identifying and profiling diseases of mangrove crab, their impact on production, the risks and protective factors, and to document prevention and control measures being practiced by the industry; and develop or adopt strategies to reduce disease incidence in mangrove crab hatchery and grow-out including the application of antimicrobials and probionts as effective substitutes for discredited /disallowed chemotherapeutants.
The program was able to produce a manual on description of diseases, effect on host, prevention and control. Two extracts (talisay and rambutan) with high antimicrobial activity against important human and aquaculture pathogens were also identified. Moreover, talisay crude ethanolic extract successfully employed as alternative to antibiotics in simulated hatchery and grow-out trials with high survival at the zoea 5 and crab instar 1 stages.
