Resistance to vibriosis, production performance and tolerance to stress of the selected giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii )

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the resistance to vibriosis, growth, survival and tolerance to stress of the selected prawn, second generation, compared to a non-selected control. The first generation of selected giant freshwater prawn, which has 10.4% higher of resistance, was used to attain disease resistant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) generation through challenge test-based selection. Resistance test was conducted by infecting the prawn (mean body weight of 10.29 ± 1.40 g) with pathogenic Vibrio harveyi (5 × 105 cfu prawn−1). The growth and survival of the prawn were evaluated by rearing the two populations of prawn in both nursery and grow-out phases. Stress tolerance test was done by evaluating the viability of postlarvae exposed to environmental stressors, i.e. temperature, salinity, NH3 and formaldehide. Post-challenge survival of the selected prawn (55.0 ± 5.0%) was about 46% higher than that of the control (37.5 ± 7.5%). The survival of the selected prawn in nursery culture (77.16 ± 0.841%) was significantly higher (p < .05) than that of the control (51.31 ± 2.938%), while the survival in grow-out culture was similar (p > .05). The growth of selected prawn (4.99 ± 0.03% day−1) was significantly higher than that of the control (4.81 ± 0.05% day−1). There was no difference between treatments on the tolerance level against the tested environmental stressor. Overall data suggested that the selected prawn showed better performance in growth and resistance against vibriosis.