Moina micrura, a cladoceran species, is considered to be one of the best live food organisms for rearing the young larval stages of fish and prawn. Considering the importance of this species in hatchery operations the present study was undertaken to record its fecundity and life span and to culture it using different locally available organic waste products. In indoor culture, a maximum production of 2600 ind/1 and a minimum of 1050 ind/1 were obtained when treated with gram + maize oilcake and "till" oilcake respectively. In outdoor culture, a highest production of 6000 ind/1 was achieved with "Alsi" and "till" oilcakes and a lowest density of 1050 ind/1 with coconut oilcake and raw cattle dung was obtained with an inoculation rate of 5 ind/1

Punia, P.

Aquatic Commons

Journal of the Indian Fisheries Association 
18. 1988. 129-134 
CULTURE OF MOINA MICRURA ON VARIOUS ORGANIC 
WASTE PRODUCTS 
PEYUSH PUNIA 
Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Bombay 400 061. 
ABSTRACT 
Moina micrura ,a cladoceran species, is considered 
to be one of the best live food organisms for rearing the 
young larval stages of fish and prawn. Considering the 
importance of this species in hatchery operations the present 
study was undertaken to record the fecundity and life 
span_ of Moina micrura and to culture it using different 
locally available organic waste products. !Experiments revealed 
that each individual of Moina micrura produces an average 
of 5.97 offsprings per day and a total of 27 offsprings~ 
in its average life span of 4.72 days when fed with Backer's 
dry yeast at the rate of 300 ppm/day. Mass culture experi-
ments conducted in two series of 10 containers each, 
were treated separately, with, groundnut oilcake, coconut 
oilcake, maize oilcake, cotton seed oilcake, gram cake, 
mustard oilcake, "til" oilcake, "alsi" oil cake, gram + maize 
cake ( 1:1) and raw cattledung. In indoor culture, a maximum 
production of 2600 ind/ I and ·a minimum of 1050 ind/ 1 
were obtained when treated with gram + maize oilcake 
(1 : 1) and "tir' oilcake respectively. In outdoor culture, 
a highest production of 6000 ind/1 was achieved with "Aisi" 
and "Tilr' cakes and a lowest density of 1050 ind/1 with 
coconut oilcake and raw cattle dung was obtained with 
an inoculation rate of 5 ind/1. 
INTRODUCTION 
Zooplankton form a higli class nutritive food for better 
survival and growth of all life stages of fish and prawn. The 
natural live food organisms make available minerals and micro-
nutrients and thus compensate when formulated feeds are used, 
resulting in healthy growth and vigour of fish and prawn larvae. 
1.30 PUN IA 
The success of live feed production depends on the suitable 
culture., medium. In Japan the zooplankton species have been 
cultured using diatoms and yeast as food (Theilacker, and Me 
Master, 1971; Kinne, 1977; Ga tesoupe and Robin, 1981 ). In India, 
the zooplankters like Artemia sp , Brachionus sp and Moina sp etc. 
have been cultured successfully by the application of organic 
manures and inorganic fertilizers in different combinations and 
doses (Shirgur, 1971; Dwivedi et al;. 1980, Dwivedi et aZ11985)which 
is .simple and less expensive. In the present study, different 
locally available organic waste products were testec;j to determine 
their suitability for the mass culture of Moina micrura. 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 
For fecundity and life span study of an individual Moina micru-
ra eleven cylindrical glass tubes of 20. ml capacity were used. 
Each tube was filled with 10 ml filtered tubewelL water. Off-
springs of Moina micrura of known age were inocula ted @ one in 
each test tube. They were fed with dry yeast @ 300 ppm. After 
24 hours, original Moina micrura was sepera ted from offsprings 
of second generation and kept in a seperate test tube. This 
process was continued till the original Moina died. 
Ten 2.5 litre capacity and ten cylindrical glass_ jars of 2.5 litre 
capacity were used for indoor mass culture. Each jar was filled 
with 2 litres of filtered tube well water. Each jars was treated 
with different organic manures, viz., groundnut . oilcake, coconut 
oilcake, maize oilcake, cotton seed oil cake, gram cake, gram 
+ maize cake, raw ca ttledung, mustard oilcake, til oilcake and 
alsi oilcake @ 200 ppm. A day after the application of manuring·, 
Moina was inocula ted in the cui ture medium §· 5 . .individuals/ li_tr.~· 
The same dose ot manure was repeated on the second day.· also •. 
Since, the water in the jars was turbid, no other dose of manure 
was applied after the second day. 
For outdoor mass culture 10 circular cement cisterns· of 
300 litre capacity, filled with 250 litres of filtered tubewell 
water were used. Tanks were treated sepa·rately with the same 
organic manures as applied in indoor culture. On the 4th day 
of application of the organic manure, Moina micrura was inoculated 
in each. cistern @ 5 ind/1. The population densities of each cistern 
were recorded daily .. 
CULTURE OF M. MICUNA 131 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
The results. of the fecundity and life span experiments reveal= 
ed that each Moina micrura produces 1 to 14 offsprings per-
day and an average of 5.97. It produces a total of 27 off springs 
in its average life span of 4.72 days. On an average, the maximum 
offsprings of 6.9 were produced on the 2nd day of its life and 
gradually reduced day by day. 
The indoor mass culture experiment showed -that the maximum 
production of Moina micrura was obtained by feeding gram + 
maize cakes (1:1) 4 i.e, 2600 ind./1,, followed by maize cake (2100 
ind/1), mustard oilcake ( 1800 ind/1 ) ') gram cake ( 1550 ind /1 ), 
coconut cake ( 1350 ind./1 ) , cotton seed oil cake ( 1200 ind/L ), 
groundnut oilcake ( 1080 ind/l ) a lsi oil cake ( 1060 ind/1 ), till oil-
cake ( 1050 ind/1) and raw cattledung ( 1050 ind/1) on the 3rd, 2nd, 
5th, 2nd, 7th, 9th, 4th, 7th, 8th and 4th & 8th day (two peaks 
for ca ttledung) and the peak remained for 2,3, 1,1 ,3,2,2,2,2 and 
2 & 1 days respectively. The fluctuations of the population 
density treated with various orgarric manures during the culture 
period is shown in F ig.1. 
noo 
2550 
2WO 
2100 
1950 
= 1800 
! ISS 
z 
'2 1500 
';(. 
-' 
::> I )50 
a. 
:r 1200 
1050 
900 
.,.____., I GROUND NUT OR CAKE 
,____,. 1 COCONUT 01 l CAKE 
.,__._.., J MAIZE C ME 
o-· --<> 4 COTTON S£ EO Oil CAKE 
A-----4 S GRAM CAKE 
.,..__., G GRAM • MAIZE CAKE II I) 
.,..__.,} RAW CI:m Ol.iNG 
Ir--a II MUSTARO OIL CAKE 
e-- --<~~9 '1 IC Oil CAKE 
•-- -<110 'ALSI"OIL CAKE 
O I l ) 4 S & 7 a ll I@ It 11 I 
0 A'l' $ 
Fig. 1 e Population density in variOUS organic manures 
1.32 PUN IA 
This study shows that an average production of 1584 indivi-
duals can be obtained with ·an initial inoculum of 5 ind/ 1 while 
Hameed Ali (1981) reported 8365 individuals/litre against the 
·initial inoculation of 100 individuals/litre. Shirgur ( 1971) achieved 
a maximum production of 700 and 500 individuals/litre when 
Moina was fed with oilcake (200 ppm) and buffalodung (300 ppm) 
respectively. Thus the production of Moina in the present experi-
ments is comparatively higher than that observed by Shirgur( 1971 ). 
The outdoor mass culture gave a maximum production of 
6000 ind/1 with til and a lsi oilcakes on the 1Oth and 9th day 
respectively, followed by gram + maize cake ( 1800. ind/1), maize 
cake ( 1600 ind/1), mustard oilcake (600 ind/ 1) and raw ca ttledung 
(600 ind/1). Fluctuation of population density under different 
feeds during the 14 days of experimental period is shown in 
Fig.2. 
0 ' , ) '· ~ ' ' • ' I() 
F ig.2. Population density for different feeds. 
It is further observed that the peaks were obtained very 
fast in the outdoor culture in the tanks treated with gram + 
maize cake (1800ind/! ), maize cake (1600 ind/1). and gram cake 
(1000 ind/l) ·an the 2n~ 3rd and 2nd day respectively. Therefore,. 
treatment with one of those manures will be helpful 'in getting 
fast production of Moina micrura in the batch cultures at a 
shorter p_eriod for· fish and prawn hatcheries. 
CULTURE OF M. MICUNA 135 
The indoor and outdoor mass culture experiments were 
conducted in different types of environments and in different 
sizes of containers. In indoor culture, higher production was 
observed except in two tanks treated with til and alsi oilcake~. 
Higher production in smaller contairers has been ·also reported 
by Bhimachar ( 1971 ), George ( 1973), Nandi et al ( 1977), Yung( 1975) 
and Hameed Ali ( 1981 ). On the contrary in the outdoor culture, 
the two tanks treated with til and alsi oilcakes gave higher 
production (6000 ind/i) in comparision with the indoor culture 
but in this case, the peak density was delayed and was observed 
on the 9th and 10kth day in the tanks treated with alsi and 
til oilcake respectively •. In these two tanks due to the presence 
of sunlight phytoplankton blooms were abundant on the 6th day and 
it was followed by Moina micrura. The results of these two 
tanks (outdoor) revealed that the yield of zooplankton depends on 
the intensity of phytoplankton and food in the culture system, as 
also observed by Theilacken and McMaster ( 1971) and Dwivedi 
et al., (1980). 
Therefore, it is concluded from the present experiments 
that for commercial prawn and fish hatcheries, which require 
a regulaP supply of live feed the present culture technique of Moina 
micrura -with the use of organic manures cari· . be ·a dependable 
source of live feed, This technique is very simple and gives 
high production in short duration of time. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
I am deeply indebted to Mr. A.K. Reddy, Aql!aculture Division 
of Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Bombay, for guidance, 
encouragement and critically going through the manuscript. 
I am grateful to the Director,· CIFE, Bombay . for providing the 
facilities. 
REFERENCES 
Bhimachar, B.S., 1971. Consolidated progress report on plankton 
and carp fry production in differ~nt levels of nutrients 
status. Central Institute of Fisheries Education; 1 969-71(Mime-
graph) 
Dwivedi, S.N~, S.K.R., Ahsari, and M.Q. Ahmed 1980. Mass culture 
of Brine shrimp under controlled conditions in cement pools 
134 PUN IA 
at Bombay, India, The Brine Shrimp, Artemia 175-183 G .. Per-
soone, P. Sorgeloos, 0 Roels and E. Jaspers (Eds). Universal 
Press Western, Belgium. 
Dwivedi, S.N., A.K. Reddy, and K.B. Sreeramamurty, 1985. 
A new method for Mass culture of Brachionus plicatilis, Ceo-
bios News Reports, Vol. 4: 54056. 
George, T.T. 1977 - Contribution to Biology of the Common 
Carp, Cyprinus carpio (Limn) with perticular reference 
to growth and maturity, M.Sc. Thesis of Bombay University. 
George, K.V., 1978. Economics of traditional prawn culture 
practice in Kerala with a note on the advantage of intensive 
prawn culture. Proc. Ist Nat. Symp. Prawn Farming. August, 
1978 9 CIFE, Bombay and MPEDA, Cochin at CIFE, Bombay. 
Ga tesoupe, F .J. and B.J.H. Robin., 1981. Mass production of 
freshwater rotifer on liquid waste. The influence of some 
environmental: factors on population growth of B rachionus ru-
) . 
bens: Aquaculture, Vol •. 25: 17-23. 
Hameed Ali, K, 1981_. Breeding, life history and Mass culture 
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Kinee, Pub. by John Wiley & Sons, Newyork. 
Nandy, A.C., P.R. Das, and S.K. Majumdar, 1977 (A). Technique 
to obtain sustained culture of a Cladoceran, Daphnia lumhotizi 
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on the mass culture of Bra chi onus mulleri Pallas. in glass aqua-
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Shirgur, G.A., ( 1971 ). Observations on rapid production of zoo-
plankton in fish nurseries by intensive phased manuring. 
J. Indian Fish. Assoc. Vol 1 ( 2), 25-50~ 
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of rotifer Brachionus plicatilis and its evaluation as a food 
for larval anchoies. Marine Biology : Vol. 10 (2), 183-88. 


Culture of Moina micrura on various organic waste products

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Culture of Moina micrura on various organic waste products

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