EFFECT OF STOCKING DENSITY ON THE SURVIVAL RATE OF GIANT TIGER PRAWN Penaeus monodon FROM MADAGASCAR IN PONDS  

Production of giant tiger prawn (P. monodon) is one of the activity of the aquaculture industry that contribute to food security in Malaysia.  In order to maximize the production of P. monodon, effect of stocking density on the survival rate of P. monodon originating from Madagascar was studied. The study was a collaborative project between Rentas Saga Sdn. Bhd. and Brackish Water Aquaculture Research Division. The study was conducted at Brackish Water Aquaculture Research Division, Gelang Patah (Fisheries Research Institute Gelang Patah), Johor, Malaysia. Ponds size used for this study ranged from 1936  to 2170 m². P. monodon were cultured at three stocking densities (40, 60 and 80 prawn m^-2), in triplicates. During the culture, change of water were done weekly started from day 20 until the end of the production cycle. The feeding regime was five times per day from the beginning of the culture and four times per day from day 61 onwards. The survival rate (SR), average body weight (ABW) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of the prawn were identified at the end of the cycles which took up to five months for each culture. The SR (%), ABW (g) and FCR for stocking densities (m^-2) of 40, 60 and 80 were 83.47±4.51, 88.30±8.26, 81.50±6.18; 27.33±2.35, 26.81±1.55, 24.72±1.15 and 1.74±0.04, 1.83±0.02, 1.87±0.28 respectively.  No significant differences (P>0.05) were observed in the survival rate or average body weight between the stocking densities. Meanwhile, the average body weight of the prawns showed negative correlation to the stocking densities of the production. This suggested that the survival rate was not affected by the stocking density, therefore high stocking density (80 m^-2) in ponds will be an effective technique to maximize the production output of giant tiger prawn in Malaysia.