Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Prawn culture in salt pans in East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh.

Volume 30 Issue 1&2

G. Sudhakara Rao, K. A. Narasimham and V Sriramachandra Murty

Abstract

The paper presents the results of two prawn culture experiments conducted in the salt pans of Andhra Pradesh. The first experiment was conducted ia the salt pans of Neellarevu during June December 1974. Two adjacent pans of 0.61 ha (pond A) and 0.48 ha (pond B) were stocked with juveniles of Penaeus monodon and P. indicus of 65 mm mean lengths. In these ponds salinity varied from 21.97 ppt to 47.39 ppt and temperature from 29.2°C to 35.0°C. At harvest in December, the mean size of P. monodon was 165.4 mm and that of P. indicus was 140.7 mm. The production rate of prawns for the 6 months period was 164 kg/ha and 189 kg/ha respectively in the two ponds. The net profit was at the rate of Rs. 980/ha in pond A and Rs. 1113/ha in pond B.

In the second experiment conducted at Lakshmipathipuram, 9470 juveniles of P. monodon, mean length at 54.2 mm, were stocked in a salt pan reservoir of 0.26 ha provided with a box type sluice gate in December 1976. The pond water temperature varied from 25.5°C to 31.0°C and salinity from 21.27 ppt to 45.39 ppt. Rice bran at a rate of 13-16% of body weight of the prawn was given as supplementary feed. Growth rate was found to be low in higher salinity (38.72—45.39 ppt). At harvest, P. monodon had mean length of 123.4 mm with about 79.3% survival. After 168 days the yield was 259 kg/ha. A net profit of Rs. 1388 was gained per hectare in 6 months without hampering the salt production.

Date : 31-12-1988