Replacement of Artemia Naupli with Panagrellus redivivus during early larval stages of Penaeus indicus

The present study focused on replacement of Artemia nauplii using nematodes (P. redivivus) during early larval stages (Mysis 3) of Indian White Shrimp (P. indicus). P. redivivus survive wide range of salinity (0 to 60ppt) and can be cultured in mass scale using dry yeast attain a maximum density of 1.26lakh/ml with a size range from 341 to 1693μm within 2 d of culture period makes them suitable live feed during shrimp larval rearing. Experiment was conducted in 20L plastic tubs using P. indicus larvae (Mysis 3) stocked at a density of 100 numbers. Artemia nauplii (AN) and P. redivivus (PR) fed thrice in a day at the rate of 10 numbers/larvae as monospecific and mixed diet combination (ratio of 1:1, 3:1 and 1:3). A significant difference in survival was observed in the treatment fed with Artemia nauplii and combination of AN+ PR (1:1 and 3:1) compared to other treatments. Maximum survival was obtained in the treatment fed with Artemia nauplii alone (75±1.2%) followed by combination of AN+ PR, 3:1 (73.3±0.9%) and AN+PR, 1:1 (70±1.7). Overall results suggest that P. redivivus can be effectively used along with Artemia nauplii upto 50 per cent during early larval stage of P. indicus to reduce the cost of production.