Thumbnail Image

Farming freshwater prawns. A manual for the culture of the giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii)

Year of publication 2002

Pages 212

Author New, M.;Fisheries and Aquaculture Management Division

Product type Book (series)

ISBN 9789251048118

Series title FAO Fisheries Technical Paper

Series number 0429-9345 - T428

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) This new manual, which replaces an earlier manual first issued in 1982, is an up-to-date practical guide to the farming of Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Many of the techniques described are also applicable to the culture of other species of freshwater prawns. The principle target audience is farmers and extension workers but it is also hoped that it will be useful for aquaculture lecturers and students. After a preliminary section on the biology of freshwater prawns, the manual covers site selectio n for hatcheries, nurseries and grow-out facilities, and the management of the broodstock, hatchery, nursery and grow-out phases of rearing. Harvesting and post-harvest handling are also covered and there are some notes on marketing freshwater prawns. The reference and bibliography section contains a list of relevant reviews, as well as other (mainly FAO) manuals on general aquaculture themes, such as water and soil management, topography, pond construction and simple economics. The management p rinciples described are illustrated by photographs and drawings. The manual contains annexes on specific topics such as the production of larval feeds, size variation, and stock estimation. The final annex is a glossary that lists not only the terms used in the manual itself but also those which may be found in other documents.

Cite this content as:

New, M.B. Farming freshwater prawns. A manual for the culture of the giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 428. Rome, FAO. 2002. 212p.

Language English

Also available in:

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • No Thumbnail Available
    Project
    The culture of the giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii de Man) in Cuba. Report of the first technical assessment mission, May 7th - 30th 1990 1990
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    The Cuban government wish to expand the tourist industry as a sorce of much needed foreign exchange. Opportunites to supply and support the industry are actively being sought and include the provision of fish and shellfish foods from fisheries and aquaculture to supply the hotel and restaurant enterprises throughout the designated tourist areas. The culture of the Giant Freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) is one such Trials are being made with pond reared stock using three methods to improve breeding; i) eyestalk ablation; ii) photoperiod manipulation; iii) artificial insemination. In the hatchery larvae are fed algae followed by minced clam, squid, marine fish and Artemia but Nippai prepared feeds are also used. A nursery phase is employed lasting 30–40 days which takes the shrimp from 5–10 day old post-larvae to 0.5 to 1.0 g juveniles. Stocking rate is 100/sq m but trials, have been made with 1000–2000 in 70 t tanks. In the on-growing phase shrimp are stocked at 5/m2, feed is given at from 15 to 2.5% per day and salinity is 25%. Feed costs around 200–250 pesos per tonne and contains squid, shrimp meal (from processed P. schmitti caught at sea) and zeolite. Problems with unstable artificial feed are common. Production is around 400–500 kg/ha/cycle and at present there are 1.6 to 1.7 cycles/yr. Newness of the ponds, inexperience and climatic changes are constraints on production. Early trials with P. notialis were not encouraging as growth stopped at 6–8 g, howev er new trials may be undertaken.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (stand-alone)
    The potential of farming tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) in Vanuatu 2004
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Sub-Regional Office for the Pacific Islands (SAPA) in Samoa, a feasibility study on farming tilapia and prawns was undertaken by SPC Aquaculture Office in November 2003. The objectives were to survey the potential to develop Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and Prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) farming in Vanuatu (further details are given in the Terms of References in Appendix 2).
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Project
    Studies on the culture of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii at various stocking size and density in ricefields
    Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia
    1988
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Experiments were conducted to investigate the possibility of prawn culture in ricefields. The work was undertaken in cooperation with the Farming System Research Institute in Bangkok and the Sakolnakorn Fisheries Station in Sakolnakorn in the North-east Thailand. The experiments were conducted on farmers' fields. Eight farmers participated in the research. They carried out day to day management of the 16 plots. The plots were prepared for the experiments by digging a trench around the ricefiel d. Paddy was planted and tillered before the prawn were stocked. Prawn were of two sizes, just metamorphosed postlarvae (PL 1) measuring 1–1.5 cm in length, others as PL 60 measuring 4.5 – 4.8 cm in length. The latter ones were first nursed for 60 days in ponds before stocking in the ricefield. The PL 1 were stocked at the rate of 1.25/m2 meter and PL 60 at 0.31, 0.63 and 1.25/m2. Thus the rate of stocking varied from 3100 to 12500/hectare. The size of each of the ricefields in this experiment w as about 1600 square meter. After a culture period of 90 to 100 days the prawn were handpicked after draining or pumping the water out of the field. Six plots belonging to three farmers were infested with large predatory fish following heavy rain that flooded the fields and damaged the screening material of 50 cm height put on the dikes surrounding the plots. Flooding and infestation with fish were perhaps the main reasons for very low survival rates of 1 to 9% in these plots. Other fields gav e survival rates of 10 to 89 %. The PL 1 in ricefields grew to 5.4 grammes after a rearing period of 90 days. However 34 % of the population had an average weight of 17.1 grammes indicating clearly that the stocked PL grew extremely well in a ricefield ecosystem.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.