Opening the session was Mohammad Alamsyah, more fondly known as Iif. In his speech, Iif touched on the severity of the AHPND disease, which is now considered the number one issue faced by shrimp farmers across the region. "Its attack is very massive, and it can cause a major loss, so it's unsettling," he said. Hence, he hopes that this seminar can give new strategic insights for shrimp farmers to handle this disease.

The speech was then followed by a presentation on "Hepatopancreas Health Conditions in Shrimp Cultivation" given by Arif Faisal Siburian, a Commercial and Technical Executive of the Behn Meyer Aquaculture Department. In his presentation, Arif said that the hepatopancreas (i.e., primary digestive organ of a shrimp) is a storehouse of large amounts of energy (lipids and carbohydrates). This organ has the ability to supply energy during moulting, starvation, reproduction, stress, etc, making it one of the most vital organs, if not the most, for shrimp. 

Because AHPND is reported to target the shrimp's digestive gland, Arif added that looking into the hepatopancreas condition might help us predict the shrimp's survival rate. To identify shrimp's health, we can check the condition of its hepatopancreas tubules and lipid content using wet mount analysis. Observing lipid levels in the hepatopancreatic tubules can indicate nutrient absorption from the feed.

One of the ways to improve hepatopancreas health is by increasing the availability of lipid sources and adding antioxidants that can prevent lipid peroxidation. As a sudden change in water quality and stress also affect the hepatopancreas health, these variables should be kept at a minimal level. Farmers and aquaculture companies alike could also apply immunostimulants in their culturing process to improve the shrimp's resistance to bacterial and viral infections. 

Although the knowledge sharing session is only conducted for a day, we hope that all participants gained something useful to help them deal with the AHPND disease and increase their yield.