Effect of Penaeus monodon‐type baculovirus (MBV) on survival and growth of larval Penaeus monodon Fabricius

. The present study attempts to investigate the effect of Penaeus monodon-type baculovirus (MBV) infection on growth and survival of the larval stages of Penaeus monodon Fabricius. The results showed that MBV may significantly retard larval growth and cause mortalities during the larval stage. The MBV-infected larvae of P. monodon varied more in body size than uninfected control shrimp, and were discoloured. To detect the presence of MBV in larval prawn, histopathological techniques and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) were used. Positive diagnoses were routinely detected as early as the zoea 1 stage when ELISA was used.