Prediction of white spot disease susceptibility in shrimps using
decision trees based machine learning models
Authors: Tran Thi Tuyen, Nadhir Al‑Ansari, Dam Duc Nguyen, Hai Minh Le, Thi Nga Quynh Phan, Indra Prakash, Romulus Costache, Binh Thai Pham
Applied Water Science
: 14/2 :
Publishing year: 2/2024
Recently, the spread of white spot disease in shrimps has a major impact on the aquaculture activity worldwide afecting
the economy of the countries, especially South-East Asian countries like Vietnam. This deadly disease in shrimps is caused
by the White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV). Researchers are trying to understand the spread and control of this disease by
doing feld and laboratory studies considering efect of environmental conditions on shrimps afected by WSSV. Generally,
they have not considered spatial factors in their study. Therefore, in the present study, we have used spatial (distances to
roads and factories) as well as physio-chemical factors of water: Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO),
Salinity, NO3, P3O4 and pH, for developing WSSV susceptibility maps of the area using Decision Tree (DT)-based Machine
Learning (ML) models namely Random Tree (RT), Extra Tree (ET), and J48. Model’s performance was evaluated using
standard statistical measures including Area Under the Curve (AUC). The results indicated that ET model has the highest
accuracy (AUC: 0.713) in predicting disease susceptibility in comparison to other two models (RT: 0.701 and J48: 0.641).
The WSSV susceptibility maps developed by the ML technique, using DT (ET) method, will help decision makers in better
planning and control of spatial spread of WSSV disease in shrimps.
White spot · Random tree · Extra tree · J48 · Disease · Vietnam