Production Assessment of Artemia franciscana (Imported Species) with the Local Species of Ghom Province Artemia Pond Culture at the Coast of Ghom Province (Iran) Namak Lake

Abstract

Artemia is a Crustacean of Artemidae family, whose importance has been realized as of year 1930 in the field of aquaculture as live food source. Whereas under current global conditions, Artemia cannot be harvested from its natural habitats, today growing the same is deemed as one of the main approaches to achieve such species, as the environmental and genetic factors as well as type of Artemia directly affect the growing of this species. In this study, 2 species of local Artemia from Ghom Province, A. parthenogenetica, were cultured together with imported species, A. franciscana, in 6 constructed ponds, each in 3 treatments along the coast of Ghom’s Namak Lake for a 180-day period. The results indicate that cyst and biomass culture and production in the local specie are more suitable than the imported one and 80 and 66 kg/hectare of cyst were produced from Ghom’s local and A. franciscana imported species, respectively. 2,800 and 2,200 kg of biomass were also achieved from Ghom’s local and A. franciscana imported species, respectively during the study period. The final result of this study showed that adaptability of the local species with the local growing natural environments conditions was cost-effective. On the other hand, the results indicated that the suitable species for culturing in any given region is the relevant local species, which preserving the genetic reserves in each region also, the invasion of unwanted species is also prevented.