EFFECT OF SUBSTRATE AND BLACK WATER ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND BODY COMPOSITION OF MALAYSIAN PRAWN, Macrobrachium rosenbergii

Nursyafiqah Zahidah binti Azahar*, Che Siti Nur Hanisah Che Nur Rifin, Md. Abdul Kader, Mahbuba Bulbul
 
School of Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
T145, 21300 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
syafiqahzahidahazahar@gmail.com

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of addition of substrate and black water on growth performance, feed utilization, metabolic enzymatic activities and body composition of Malaysia prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Four treatments were designed with five replicates per treatment where treatment 1 (T1) was control (no substrate and clear water). Substrate and black water were used in treatment 2 (T2) and treatment 3 (T3), respectively, whereas treatment 4 (T4) was designed with both substrate and black water. The PVC pipes and plastic nets were used as substrate. On the other hand, black water was purchased commercially. Twenty units of rectangular fiberglass tanks (150L) were filled with 100 l freshwater and equipped with the aeration by using air stone. Before stocking, the tanks were prepared with the respective treatments. Homogenous sized 40 PL with mean body weight of 0.143±0.003 g (mean±SD) was stocked in each replicate tank. The prawn was fed with commercial diet and dried anchovies with the rate of 10-20% of their body weight, three times a day for 70 days. At the end of the feeding  trial, significant differences (P>0.05) were not found among mean final body weight (FBW, g), weight gain (WG, g), percentage weight gain (%WG), specific growth rate (SGR, % day-1) and survival (%) of prawn. The highest (P>0.05) FBW of prawn was found in T3 compared to that of the other treatments. Similarly, WG, %WG and SGR were also highest in T3 followed by T2, T1 and T4, respectively. On the contrary, the survival was lowest (P>0.05) in T3 and the prawn in T2 that contain substrate only, exhibited the highest survival (66.20%). The feed utilization parameters, enzymatic activities related to amino acid metabolism and body composition were also not affected by the any of the treatments. Apparent feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio were better in T2, while feed intake was highest in T3. The glutamate oxaloacitic transaminase and glutamate pyruvic transaminase were highest in control (T1) compared to all the treatments. Comparatively higher values for muscle crude protein and crude lipid were found in T2 compared to those of the control. Based on the overall performances, it can be concluded that addition of substrate had beneficial effects on the performance of prawn. Although, black water improved the growth performance, however it decreased the survival which provided a setback on their utilization. Further research are warranted with different types of substrates and long term duration.