Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Field cultivation of Gracilaria edulis (Gmelin) Silva in Chinnapalam Estuary Pamban.

Volume 29 Issue 1&2

M. Paramasivam and G. G. M. Devadoss

Abstract

Requirement of agarophytes for agar producing industries is more than the crop available in natural habitat. To augment the supply of such seaweeds, culture experiments were undertaken with Gracilaria edulis (Gmelin) Silva in Chinnapalam Estuary area, Pamban. About 40 gm fragments of G. edulis measuring 3 cm in length, cut from the apical parts of healthy growing plants, were inserted in the twists of long coir ropes. The ropes were then tied to the poles already erected in the estuary and were kept submerged 0.5 m depth even at the lowest low tide. After 47 days, the harvest indicated the rate of growth of the plant as 1.5 mm/day. The rate of production was 2.3 gm/day/m. There was 2.8 fold increase in weight within the experimental period.

Date : 31-12-1987