Use of artificial seawater for rearing of giant freshwater prawn (macrobrachium rosenbergit) larvae

Abstract

Abstract : An experiment on use of artificial seawater for rearing of freshwater prawn larvae was conducted for a period of 42 days. Prawn larvae were reared under three treatments. In Tp artificial sea water; in T2, artificial sea water 50%+ brine 50% and in T3, brine were used. The average temperature of water was 31.18°C in Tp 31.10°C in T2, and 31.52 °C in T3. The pH value ranged from was 7.70 to 8.65. The dissolved oxygen content of water in different treatments was found to vary between 5.65 and 7.40 mg/L. The ammonia of water varied from 0.17 to 0.32 mg/L. The range of alkalinity in different treatments during the study period was between 121 - 191 mg/L. The range of nitrite in different treatments during the study period was between 0.37 - 0.91 mg/L. The survival rate of prawn larvae were 52.32% (Tj), 49.28% (T2) and 48.66 % (T3). This result indicated that artificial sea water is the best media for larvae culture due to absence of pesticide or other heavy metal contamination and free from pathogen.