Estimation of eclosion and total biomass in the culture of Artemia sp. (CRUSTACEA, BRANCHIOPODA, ANOSTRACA) submitted to different diets

Abstract

 The production of Artemia sp. in Brazil was aimed for use in cultures of larvae of crustaceans and fishes, of high commercial value, being used live, as nauplii or adults, as frozen biomass and also microencapsulated. The adoption of a balanced diet in the culture of this crustacean is related to the production of microorganisms of plankton and with alternative feeds. An experiment was carried out between the months of may and august of 2004 at the Experimental Laboratory of Cultivable Aquatic Organisms and the Laboratory of Limnology, both of UFRA, aiming to eclosion and estimate the total biomass of Artemia sp. fed with different diets and in controlled laboratory conditions. The feeding sequence consisted of two different treatments, whose diets had been prepared with plankton (natural food) and liquid of the leaf of the maniva (inert food). The biomasses had been compared using test-t of bilateral Student (α=0,05). Incubator 1 had 85% hatching, while the incubator 2 hatched 70% of the cysts. The treatment containing liquid of the leaf of the maniva showed the best result, with a mean of 129,361±72,31 g, while the treatment containing plankton showed a mean of 30,828±17,36 g.