Effect of Exogenous Protease on the Performance of Marine Shrimp <i>Penaeus vannamei</i> : A Controlled Trial and a Systematic Review With Meta‐Analysis

A two‐part study was conducted to evaluate the impact of exogenous protease supplementation on the performance of Pacific white shrimp ( Penaeus vannamei ): a controlled in vivo feeding trial and a systematic review with meta‐analysis. In the feeding trial, a 90‐day experiment was conducted using diets supplemented with protease, administered to shrimp stocked at 90/m 2 . The experimental design applied was completely randomized, with treatments organized in increasing doses of exogenous protease (0, 125, 250, and 500 g/t) supplemented in “on top” mode in commercial feed with 35% protein, extruded, and with pellets of 1.6 mm in diameter. The results showed a significant increase in performance with the use of exogenous protease in the diet of shrimp grown under a density of 90 shrimp/m 2 . Live weight had a linear increasing effect ( p &lt; 0.001), as did feed intake ( p &lt; 0.001), weight gain ( p &lt; 0.001), and survival ( p &lt; 0.001), while feed conversion ratio (FCR) had a quadratic effect ( p = 0.005). The supplementation of exogenous protease showed to have an influence on the control diet, resulting in satisfactory increments when analyzing weight gain indices. The study demonstrates positive effects in the addition of exogenous protease, with significant effects on the performance of shrimp. The meta‐analysis included 7,080 shrimps from peer‐reviewed studies comparing protease‐supplemented and control diets. Three outcome measures were analyzed, daily body weight gain (dBWG), FCR, and survival rate. The database was composed of eight comparisons in weight gain (dBWG, g/shrimp/day), 8 comparisons in feed conversion rate (FCR, g/g), and eight comparisons in survival (survival %). Meta‐analysis revealed evidence in the literature that P. vannamei shrimp fed diets supplemented with exogenous protease enzyme or not do not vary in terms of survival rate ( p = 0.08437). Feed conversion in P. vannamei shrimp showed significant evidence that P. vannamei shrimp fed diets supplemented with exogenous protease enzyme. A dosage of 175 mg/kg was identified as optimal across the analyzed studies without significant changes in animal survival.