Optimum condition for transporting giant freshwater prawn, macrobrachium rosenbergii post larvae

Macrobrachium rosenbergii is one of the most commercially important freshwater prawn species in the countries where it is indigenous or even beyond. Once harvested, it is important to maintain the quality of the post larvae (PL) by adopting proper packaging and transportation. Trauma and stress of the PL were known to have association with handling and transport of PL will affect the survival and the quality of the PL. This experiment were carried out to determine the optimum condition to transport the PL. The parameters that conducted were the effect of stocking densities (60, 80, 100 PL in ½ /L of water), water temperatures (23 °C, 25 °C and 30 °C), presence of artemia as feed, and lighting factor (dark and sunlight). After reached UMK Jeli Campus, all PL were removed from plastic bags and the number of survival and dead PL were recorded. In this experiment, only water temperature showed significant difference (p0.05) in PL survival. The survival of PL stocked 60 stocking density found to be higher (96.11 %) while significantly lower rate was observed at high stocking densities of 80 and 100 PL in which 95.83 % and 94.67 % respectively. Survival of PL found to be higher at water temperature 23 °C (96.11 %) while significantly lower rate was observed at water temperature 25 °C and 30 °C in which 95.00 % and 91.67 % respectively. For treatments the presence of artemia as feed during transport, it shown that the survival percentage of PL with artemia was 97.78 % whereas survival percentage of PL without artemia was 94.44 %. For treatment with lighting, the survival percentage of PL that were put at dark place was 96.67 % while 92.78 % survival percentage of PL that were put at a place that exposed to sunlight. The survivability of PL can be maximized by determining the optimum condition to transport M. rosenbergii PL