A Preliminary Study on Growth and Survival of Fresh Water Prawn (<i>Macrobrachium rosenbergii</i>) in Chitwan, Nepal

Abstract

A preliminary study on nursing, growth, and survival of fresh water prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) was carried out at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS) and also in the farmer's pond at Kathar, Chitwan during March 2002 to April 2003. About 6% of first stage nursing of post larvae survived for 19 days in hapa installed in green water cement tanks compared to 60% for juvenile nursing in open cement tanks. Prawn stocked at 2/m2 at IAAS cement tank grew from 1 to 17.7±2.6 g in 271 days with a range of 3 to 43 g sizes and the survival rate was 35±15% with a range of 17 to 65%. Similarly, prawn grew from 1 g to 42.7±13.6 g in 234 days with a range of 6 to 89 g in farmers' earthen ponds at Kathar. Survival rate in farmers' pond at harvest ranged from 20 to 28%. Low survival rate was due to prawn mortality during first week of January when water temperature dropped below 15oC as pond water level was less than 0.5 m. Prawns at IAAS were observed at fully maturity with several berried females during March 2003. Growth of prawn was higher in farmer's earthen pond than in cement tank at IAAS in polyculture with carps/tilapia. Results clearly indicate that nursing techniques of post larvae need to be improved to increase its survival rate. Harvest size of prawn indicates its possibility to culture in subtropical conditions of Nepal. However, as low temperature hinders growth and survival of fresh water prawn, culture cycle and season have to be standardized to avoid winter cold temperature.J. Inst. Agric. Anim. Sci. 25:75-78 2004