PRODUCTIVITY OF Artemia sp. FED WITH FERMENTED FEEDING A CONTROLLED REARING SYSTEM

Abstract

Artemia sp. is a crustacean widely used as natural feed in fish and shrimp hatchery activities because of its high nutritional content, suitable size for larval mouth openings, and high digestibility. The success of Artemia sp. culture is strongly influenced by the quality of the culture medium and the availability of a feed that supports growth and biomass production. This study aimed to analyze the growth, biomass, and secondary productivity of Artemia sp. cultured using fermented feed. The study was conducted in the laboratory for 10 days at a stocking density of 800 individuals L⁻¹ in seawater with a salinity of 35‰. Observations were conducted every two days on temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, biomass, daily productivity, standing crop, and specific growth rate. Secondary production was calculated using the increment-summation method. The results showed that water temperature during the culture period ranged from 26.6 to 27.1 °C, dissolved oxygen from 4.1 to 6.5 mg L⁻¹, pH from 6.8 to 6.9, and salinity remained at 35‰. Biomass increased from 8.54 mg L⁻¹ at the beginning of the culture period to 1,098.08 mg L⁻¹ on day 10. The highest daily productivity was recorded during the T6–T8 interval, reaching 446.08 mg L⁻¹ day⁻¹. The estimated total population production reached 1,098.09 mg L⁻¹, with a mean biomass of 477.2 mg L⁻¹ and a production-to-biomass ratio of 2.30. These results indicate that the culture conditions and fermented feed supported the growth, biomass accumulation, and secondary productivity of Artemia sp. during the ten-day culture period.