Influence of wild mixed zooplankton on growth and muscle biochemical composition of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii post larvae

The present experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth, survival and nutrients composition of Macrobrachium rosenbergii post larvae (PL) fed with different live feeds viz., wild mixed zooplankton (WMZ) from freshwater lakes and Artemia nauplii. The WMZ species were collected from Sulur Lake (totally 28: rotifera 11, cladocera 10 and copepoda 7) and Ukkadam Lake (total 24: rotifera 10, cladocera 8 and copepoda 6) of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. The M. rosenbergii PL were fed with Artemia nauplii (control) and WMZ collected from each Lake for a period of 21 days. The result showed that the survival, length, and weight were significantly (P < .05) increased in PL fed with WMZ of Ukkadam Lake, followed by Sulur Lake when compared to Artemia nauplii (control). The protein content was found to be insignificantly (P > .05) higher in PL26 fed with WMZ of both the lakes when compared to PL26 fed with Artemia nauplii. The essential amino acids and fatty acids were found to be significantly higher (P < .05) in PL26 when fed with WMZ of Ukkadam and Sulur Lake when compared to PL26 fed with Artemia nauplii. The findings of the present study under lined that WMZ could be considered as promising alternative live feed to achieve better growth and survival of the early PL26 of M. rosenbergii in the hatchery system.