Enhancement of Artemia biomass and cyst production using supplementary feeds: a preliminary study

The present study was conducted to increase the production of Artemia sp. using different supplemental feeds for thirty days. Five treatments were T₁ (green water + rice bran), T₂ (green water + soybean meal), T₃ (green water + oil cake), T₄ (green water + formulated feed), and T₅ (control, only green water). In formulated feed, there were 40% rice bran, shrimp meal 35%, corn 10%, and oil cake 5%. Artemia spp. was cultured under all conditions. Fifteen experimental aquariums (250 L) were set up with the necessary equipment in the laboratory for measuring the water parameters, biomass, leaching nutrients from supplementary feed, and cysts of Artemia at different life stages. Mechanical aeration and incentives were provided every day in the aquarium for maintaining the optimum level of dissolved oxygen at the initial stage of the experiment. Collection of biomass of cultured Artemia sp. started on day 5 and continued until day 30, and the cyst was collected from day 20 to 30. At baseline, the average wet weight of Artemia spp. was 0.641 g throughout the study aquarium. An average of 3.47 g of wet Artemia was collected from different feedings, with 0.67 g measured in the control condition. Initially, cyst production averaged 0.145 g in the different feed treatments and 0.066 g in the control condition. Finally, cyst production averaged 0.180 g in the treatment with different feeds and 0.086 g without supplementation. Analysis of variance using a one-way test (ANOVA) for population density and biomass of cultured species showed significant differences between the different treatments.