Hatchery seed production of giant freshwater prawn,Macrobrachium rosenbergiiusing inland ground saline water in India

Abstract

The suitability of inland saline water (ISW) from the Lahli-Baniyani Fish Farm, Rohtak was investigated for the larval rearing of giant freshwater prawn (GFP), Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Six experiments were conducted. In Experiment-I, 54% of the larvae metamorphosed to postlarvae (PL) in constituted seawater (CSW) whereas total mortality occurred at larval stages (LS)-II and LS-III in ISW with salinity of 12 g L−1. Larvae survived to LS-IV in Experiment-II, when ISW was supplemented with K+~ SW. In Experiment-III, total hardness in ISW was reduced serially, but K+ ~ SW was supplemented. The larvae did not survive beyond LS-V. In Experiment-IV, ISW was amended with different ratios of Mg2+/Ca2+ and K+ ~ SW. The larvae successfully metamorphosed to postlarvae with highest survival of 51.6% in Mg2+/Ca2+ ratio of 2.5. In Experiment-V, eight larval cycles were run with water quality used in Experiment V, where all the cycles produced PL's with a survival rate of 20–67%. In Experiment VI, the larvae were reared in Mg2+/Ca2+ ratio of 2.5 and different levels of K+ to optimize its requirement. The ISW amended with K+ 80% ~ SW and Mg2+/Ca2+ ratio of 2.5 was found to be commercially suitable for the seed production of GFP.