Highest growth of prawn was obtained with Feed B (743 kg/ha) with highest survival rate (60.88%) followed by Feed A where production and survival rate was 659 kg/ha and 53.50%, respectively. Feed A contained 30% dry ground cow viscera, 40% oil cake, 20% rice-bran and 10% heat bran. Feed conversion ratios were found to be 7.60:1 for Feed A and 6.46:1 for Feed B, which indicated that Feed B was more efficiently utilized by the prawn than Feed A. Statistical analysis revealed that the differences in production of prawns among the treatments were highly significant (P< 0.01)

Ahmed, S.U.

Rahman, M.

Rahman, S.

Aquatic Commons

Bangladesh J. Fish. Res., 3(2), 1999: 151-155 
Effects of supplementary feeds on growth and survival of 
freshwater giant prawn (Macrobrachium resenbergii deMan) 
S.U. Ahmed*, S. Rahman and M. Rahman 
Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, Riverine Station,Ciwndpur 3602, Bangladesh 
Present address & corresponding author: Brackishwater Station, BFRI, Khulna 9280, Bangladesh 
Abstract 
Highest growth of prawn was obtained with Feed B (743kg/ha) with highest survival 
rate (60.88%) followed by Feed A where production and survival rate was 659 kg/ha 
and 53.50%, respectively. Feed A contained 30% dry ground cow viscera, 40% oil 
cake, 20% rice-bran and 10% wheat bran. Feed conversion ratios were found to be 
7.60:1 for Feed A and 6.46:1 for Feed B, which indicated that Feed B was more 
efficiently utilized by the prawn than Feed A. Statistical analysis revealed that the 
differences in production of prawns among the treatments were highly significant 
(P< 0.01). . 
Key words : Macrobrachium resenbergii, Feed, Survival 
Introduction 
Macrobrachium rosenbergii, locally known as "Golda chingri" has great potential 
for culture in freshwater ponds, but in practice, culture of this species in the country 
is still in the primitive stage and the production rate is also very low. Simultaneously 
the natural stock of prawn is declined day by day due various environmental and 
man-made factors. Absence of improved culture and management practices are also 
responsible for such adverse situation. As little work have been done on mono-
culture of "gold" in Bangladesh so more investigations are needed to develop the 
culh1re techniques of the species to increase the production. Considering the above 
facts the study was undertaken to find out the effects of different feeding treatments 
on the growth, survival and production of M. rosenbergii pond culture system. 
Materials and methods 
Nine earthen ponds each of 0.16 ha were selected for this study and marked asP-
1, P-2, P-3. All the ponds were dried-up to eradicate insects, poisonous gases and 
undesirable fishes. Lime (CaC03) was applied at the rate of 200kg/ha and then 
fertilized with both organic and inorganic fertilizers. Each pond was divided into 
three equal compartments (area of each compartment was 0.053 ha) by bamboo 
fencing. Physico-chemical factors of pond water viz. water depth, temperature, 
transparency and pH were determined at fortnightly intervals, and free 
carbondioxide, dissolved oxygen and water hardness were recorded at bimonthly 
intervals. 
S.U. Ahmed et al. 
Juveniles of M. rosenbergii which are available from local rivers (Dakatia and 
Meghna) were collected and then kept for nine days in cement cisterns, filled with 
pond water for acclimatization. They were finally stocked on August'95 at the rate of 
15000 juveniles /ha (800 juveniles in each compartment) in all the ponds. Initial mean 
weight of the juveniles were 4.85g in P-1, 4.20g in P-2 and 4.00g in P-3. All the ponds 
were fertilized monthly with cow dung at the rate of 750 kg/ha (40 kg in each 
compartment), and urea at the rate of 40 kg/ha (2.1 kg in each compartment). After 
two months, compost fertilizer of cow dung, water hyacinth and lime at the ratio of 
10:20:1 were used instead of cow-dung. 
Ponds of P-1 were considered as controlled (without any supplementary feed). 
Feed was supplied at the rate of 5% of the body weight of prawn every day in the 
evening in the ponds of P-2 and P-3. Feed-A was used in P-2 and Feed-Bin P-3. 
Sampling of prawn was conducted once in a month the final harvest was done 
after 180 days of culture on February'96 by dewatering the ponds. 
Results and discussion 
Physico-chemical parameters 
Initially same water depth was tried to maintain in all the ponds. However, the 
depth increased gradually and reached its peak during the month of October 
(261.34cm to 300.17cm) and then gradually fall down up to the minimum level 
(131.67cm to 167.67cm) in the month of January (Table 1). Hanson and Goodwin 
(1977) observed that the water depth ranging from 91 em to 122cm is known to be 
beneficial for growth and survival of prawns. Transparency and pH generally 
increased with the increase of water level with an exception of minimum pH 
recorded in November. Minimum water temperature (22.37° to 22.94°) was recorded 
in all the ponds during January and the maximum was recorded during August in 
the ponds of P-1 and P-2, and in October in P-3. The water transparency become 
higher in P-1 ponds probably due to low plankton growth and suspended particles in 
the pond water. 
Tablet: Physico-chemical parameters of the ponds under different treatments 
Month Water Temp. Trans- pH DO C02 Hardness 
s depth (em) (OC) perancy (mg/1) (mg/1) (mg/1) 
(em) 
Aug. 176.5-195.8 33.97-35.20 31.10-35.20 8.12-8.59 
Sep. 244.7-276.8 30.88-32.00 34.10-46.34 8.00-8.38 3.47-4.42 3.88-5.42 64.46-92.58 
Oct. 261.3-300.2 33.14-33.79 38.05-49.17 7.67-7.90 
Nov. 214.3-250.3 30.32-31.82 36.20-42.17 8.88-9.37 5.56-6.78 3.05-5.21 61.71-86.23 
Dec 168.7-218.8 24.22-27.05 35.20-39.43 8.54-9.10 
Jan. 131.7-167.7 22.72-22.94 29.84-33.54 8.72-9.22 4.65-6.27 4.32-5.93 64.98-87.88 
152 
Effects of supplementary feeds on M. rosenbergii culture 
Minimum values of dissolved oxygen (3.47 to 4.42mg/1) in all the ponds were 
found in September, whereas maximum values for P-2 and P-3 ponds were recorded 
in November and for P-1 ponds in January. Water hardness showed maximum 
values (64.46 to 92.58 mg/1) in September for P-1 and P-2 ponds and in January for 
P-3 ponds. Maximum free C02 was recorded (4.32mg/I and 5.93mg/I) for P-2 and P-
3 ponds in January and for P-1 ponds in November and the minimum (3.05mg/1 and 
3.34mg/I) for P-2 and P-3 pond during November and for P-1 ponde in September 
(Table 1). According to Hanson and Goodwin (1977), this species can tolerate a wide 
and fluctuating rang of temperature and dissolved oxygen. Swingle (1971) described 
pH values ranging from 7.21 to 8.84 as the desired level for pond fish culture. 
·Survival and mortality rate of jtweniles 
A total of 8,427 galda juveniles were collected of which 9.21% and 4.15% died 
during the period of transportation and acclimatization, respectively. The rate of 
survival was 87.17%. 
The causes of the mortality of juveniles might be due to shortage of oxygen, 
physical injury caused by friction with raugh surface of the container during 
transportation period, higher water temperature in the cistern and secondary 
infection as a result of physical injury of the juveniles during the period of 
acclimatization. 
Production and growth 
The highest average weight (36. 16g) increment were found in P-3 ponds and 
lowest value in P-1 ponds (22.38g). Similar results were found in their daily average 
individual growth increment (Table 2). The daily increment of weight ranging from 
0.12g to 0.20g, although these were close to observation of Arieli et al. (1981) and Ling 
(1967a) but seems secured quite low when compared with that of Arieli and 
Rappaport (1982) who recorded 0.29g/ day individual increment over a growing 
period of 120 days. 
Table 2. Growth and production of M. rosenbergii in monoculture experiment 
Ponds Final wt. Individu Total% Survival FCR Total wt. Productio 
(g) al incremen (%) at n (kg/ha) 
incremen t (g) harvest 
t /day (kg) 
( ) 
P-1 27.73 0.12 463.80 53.50 11.70 441 
P-2 37.00 0.18 781.09 58.50 7.6 17.64 659 
P-3 40.25 0.20 892.64 60.88 6.7 19.69 743 
During the grow out period, the survival rates of prawn in P-2 and P-3 ponds 
were almost similar (53.5% and 60.8%) and lowest in P-1 ponds (53.5%), but as a 
153 
S.U. Ahmed et al. 
whole it reflected high mortality rate ranging from 39.12 to 46.50%. High mortality 
rate and consequent low production may be due to cannibalism, predation by birds 
and animals and pouching. Takata (1974) observed 18% survival rate over a culture 
period of 300 days with the stocking density of 18 individuals of M .rosenbergii per 
square meter. Maximum increase in weight (40.25g) was also recorded for P-3 ponds 
followed by P-2 (37g) and P-1 ponds (27.73g) where the rate of increment is in 
agreement with the findings of Khan et al. (1980). 
Prawns of P-3 ponds showed higher feed conversion ratio (6.5:1) with the 
supplementary feed "B" than those of the prawns of P-2 ponds where the average 
feed conversion ratio was 7.6:1 with the supplementary feed "A". The results indicate 
that, the feed "B" is more acceptable for consumption and growth of these prawns. 
In the ponds of P-3, highest rate of production (743kg/ha) was recorded, 
followed by a gradual decrease in P-2 (659kg/ha) and P-1 ponds (441kg/ha) which 
might occur due to the differences in feeding treatments of the ponds. Results also 
indicate that the feed type "B" enhanced the production in comparison to feed type 
"A" and controlled treatment. 
From Table 3 it is apparent that among the total catch 27.10%30.70% and 63.16% 
of prawn harvested from the ponds of P-3, P-2 and P-1, respectively. Brody et.al. 
(1980) stated that the size of prawn above 30g in weight is regarded as marketable 
size in many parts of the world. 'The results show that highest average weight gain 
was in the ponds of P-3 with the supplementary feed type "B". In all the ponds, a 
smaller no. of prawns were found within the range of 8.0 to 12.0g, most of them were 
infected by parasitic isopodes. However, the growth in weight per month in all the 
ponds increased almost in a similar fashion during the fist two months of this 
experiment (4.73g to 5.55g) and reached its peak ranging from 27.39g to 38.58g in the 
month of November. Monthly incremettt in growth of weight was also highest 
(8.78g to 7.65g) in November. The increment in growth during the month of 
December and January were lowest ranging from 0.36g to 1.5g, which might due to 
the unavailability of moulted prawn at sampling, low water temperature, variation in 
the physico chemical condition of water, use of insufficient feed and other 
environmental factors. Menon et al. (1972) and Islam et al. (1984) also observed 
similar trends of growth variation in M. rosenbergii. During the harvesting period 
(February) growth of prawns in all the ponds decreased because of the inclusion of 
all sizes of specimen together which was mostly due to the variation in individual 
growth rate( Ling 1967b). 
However, from the above results, it is clear that in prawn monoculture system, 
sub optimal environmental conditions and management procedures are the main 
limiting factors. Although the feed type B gave the best result but the maximum yield 
was only 743kg/ha/yr. Whereas in Hawii 1360kg of prawns/acre/year are produced 
by adopting the intensive culture system. However the production level of 743kg 
/ha/yr in this experiment is quite satisfactory compared to our national production 
level of 75-100kg/ha/yr. 
154 
Effects of supplementan; feeds on M. rosenbergii culture 
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(Manuscript received 27 November 1998) 
155 


Effects of supplementary feeds on growth and survival of freshwater giant prawn (Macrobrachium resenbergii [i.e. rosenbergii] deMan)

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Effects of supplementary feeds on growth and survival of freshwater giant prawn (Macrobrachium resenbergii [i.e. rosenbergii] deMan)

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