Alternative Methods for Marine Harpacticoid Copepod, <I>Macrosetella gracilis</I> Production in Marine Fish Larviculture

Sustainable aquaculture depends upon eco-friendly, economically and socially viable culture systems. The recycling of organic wastes for plankton culture serves the dual purpose of cleaning the environment and providing economic benefits. There has been no experimentation to measure the effect of organic manure for the aquaculture of copepods, it may be reduced time and labor cost. Hence, the present experiment was conducted to evaluate the mass culture feasibility of Harpacticoid copepod, <I>Macrosetella gracilis</I> using a different organic manures viz., cow dung, poultry manure, goat manure and mixture of these three (1:1:1 ratio) at 500 g for each tank manures were decomposed for twelve days before the inoculation of copepod. Twenty adult copepod <I>M. gracilis</I> were inoculated. The peak density was found on 10-14th day of at all doses, among these four doses, significantly higher numbers of organisms 4213.33±213.48 ind. L<SUP>-1</SUP> were found in the cow dung followed by the poultry manure, goat manure and mixed doses 2350.66±148.20; 1573.60±121.41; 995±102, respectively. The number of organisms was ground very low in mixed doses than other doses. Water quality analyses of culture system was no significantly different among the treatments especially pH and salinity. Cow dung manure is therefore recommended for quick and high production of copepod, <I>M. gracilis</I> which invariably reduces the high cost of expensive algae feed for copepod