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Email the author (Login required) Integrated stage-specific management across the production cycle of Macrobrachium rosenbergii: effects of broodstock nutrition, larval salinity and biofloc carbon management
Submited: 2026-07-21 17:21:21 | Published: 2026-11-11 19:54:31
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3856/10.3856/vol54-issue5-fulltext-3693
Abstract
This study evaluated stage-specific management strategies across three successive phases of the Macrobrachium rosenbergii production cycle: broodstock conditioning, larval rearing, and juvenile grow-out. Each phase was evaluated through an independent experiment testing specific nutritional, environmental, or microbial management factors, while together the three experiments provided a coordinated production framework. Broodstock conditioning compared a commercial control diet with three experimental diets containing 7, 11, and 14% crude lipid. Larvae used in the subsequent larval-rearing experiment were obtained from spawnings produced during the preceding broodstock reproductive phase. Larval rearing evaluated six treatments differing in salinity source, production system, and carbon supplementation strategy. Juvenile grow-out compared recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) with biofloc technology (BFT) supplemented with either molasses or corn starch. Broodstock fed the 11% lipid diet consistently exhibited numerically superior reproductive performance, although differences among dietary lipid levels were not statistically significant. During larval rearing, seawater-based BFT supplemented with molasses resulted in higher survival and shorter larval development time, whereas brine-based BFT treatments failed to reach the first postlarval stage (PL1) under the tested conditions. During juvenile grow-out, survival was comparable among treatments; final body weight was higher in RAS than in corn starch-supplemented BFT, whereas molasses-supplemented BFT produced growth comparable to RAS. Biofloc treatments, particularly those supplemented with molasses, also promoted a higher proportion of advanced male morphotypes (orange-claw and blue-claw) while reducing the frequency of small-claw males. Taken together, these findings indicate that dietary lipid levels within the evaluated range adequately supported broodstock reproductive performance. In contrast, larval and juvenile responses were primarily influenced by salinity source and carbon management. Overall, these results support a stage-specific management framework in which nutritional, environmental, and microbial strategies are applied according to the specific requirements of successive developmental stages of M. rosenbergii.
