Effects of Aeration Flow Rate in the Culture Medium on the Growth Performance and Egg Production of Copepod Oithona similis Fed with Fermented Organic Diet

Abstract

The availability of copepod Oithona similis as live food organism for shrimp and marine fish larvae is strongly influenced by the optimum feed and environment conditions. Optimization of dissolved oxygen (DO) for O. similis can be carried out by providing proper aeration in culture media. Feeding with fermented organic diet besides phytoplankton is expected to support the individual growth, metabolism, and reproduction of O. similis. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of different aeration flow rates on the growth performance and egg production of O. similis and to determine the optimum aeration flow rate. Completely Randomized Design Experiment used in this study with 4 treatments and 4 replications. The treatment was O. similis culture with different aeration flow rate of 0.00; 22.00; 45.67; 66.67 mL.second-1. The results showed that the difference aeration flow rate significantly affected (p <0.05) the growth performance and egg production of O. similis. The aeration flow rate of 45.67 mL.second-1 provided the best growth performance with total density of 81.25 ± 2.99 ind.mL-1; population specific growth rate 0.220 ± 0.002 day-1; and egg production28.40 ± 0.48 eggs.ind-1. Moreover, the optimum aeration flow rate culture medium for O. similis is 45.70 mL.second-1.