GROWTH OF SEAWEED COTTONI Kappaphycus alvarezii PROPAGUL AT VARIOUS CULTIVATION DENSITIES

This study was aimed to determine optimal cultivation density of cottoni (Kappaphycus alvarezii) prophagul obtained from tissue culture at laboratory scale.  Four different densities (5, 10, 15 and 20 individuals) with five replicates of each were tested and assigned according to completely randomized design (CRD). The experiment was conducted for 2 months in bottles containing 500 ml growth medium (490 ml Sterile Water Sea + 10 ml Provasolli Enriched Seawater solution) in each bottle.

The result showed that growth of the prophagul was significantly influenced by cultivation density (ANOVA, p<0.05). The highest absolute growth was observed at density 15 individuals, which was 2.74±0.64 gr.  In addition, the specific growth rate (SGR) at density 15 individuals was significantly higher than SGR at density 20 individuals but not significantly different from density 5 and 10 individuals. These results suggested that optimum culturing density of cottoni propagul in a laboratory scale was 15 individuals/500 mL which was equal to 200 mg/L.