African Journal of Fisheries Science

African Journal of Fisheries Science ISSN 2375-0715 Vol. 5 (7), pp. 267-272, October, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Cultivation of black tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon (Fabricius 1798) at the nursery stage in biofloc technology (BFT) system

Vicente Mabote¹, Delfina Muiocha², Manecas Francisco Baloi^3*

¹AQUAPESCA Farm, Inhassunge, Mozambique.

²Instituto Nacional de Investigação Pesqueira, 389, PO Box 4603, Maputo, Mozambique.

³Escola Superior de Ciências Marinhas e Costeiras, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, PO Box 128, Quelimane, Mozambique.

Corresponding author's E-mail: [email protected]. Tel. 00258 84 238 1935

Accepted 27 June, 2017

A 120-day experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of Penaeus monodon postlarvae (PL) reared during the nursery phase in a BFT limited water exchange system. The PL25 (0.19 ± 0.01g) were divided into two treatments: clear water (CW) and Biofloc system (BFT) at a stock density of 200 PL m^-2. Three replications were applied in each treatment. The PLs were fed three times per day applying a 38% commercial crude protein diet. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found between treatments in all water quality parameters except in terms of water temperature. The BFT treatment showed higher water quality parameters with the exception of dissolved oxygen. The mean final weight, growth rate and biomass in the BFT treatment was higher than the CW treatment (P < 0.05); however, survival did not differ between treatments (P < 0.05). FCR was lower (P < 0.05) in the BFT treatment than the CW treatment. Results indicate that a BFT system improved the growth performance of P. monodon and maintained the water quality within a range which is considered optimal for the species.

Keywords: BFT, Penaeus monodon, postlarvae, water quality, growth performance.