Biomolecular identification and optimization of growth performance and egg production in Oithona sp. under different salinity culture conditions

• Published in: Aquaculture, Aquarium, Conservation & Legislation Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 575 - 585
• Main Authors: Chilmawati, Diana, Hutabarat, Johannes, Anggoro, Sutrisno, Suminto, Suminto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cluj-Napoca Bioflux SRL 01.04.2019
• Subjects: Aquaculture; Aquatic crustaceans; Brackish water; Chlorine; Culture media; Density; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA barcoding; Egg production; Eggs; Estuaries; Estuarine dynamics; Estuarine environments; Fish; Fish eggs; Fish larvae; Food; Food organisms; Gene sequencing; Growth rate; Identification; Laboratories; Larvae; Live feeds; Oithona; Optimization; Plankton; Population; Salinity; Salinity effects; Science; Shrimps; Species; Species identification; Indonesia
• ISSN: 1844-8143

Oithona sp. is one of the copepod with the potential to serve as a live food organism for fish larvae and shrimps in estuary areas and seas due to its relatively small size, high nutritional content, and ability to adapt to changes in the temperature and salinity of its environment. Optimum salinity in the media could minimize the osmotic work load so as to increase growth and egg production in Oithona sp. This research was conducted to determine the optimum salinity for growth performance and egg production as well as to confirm the species of Oithona sp. that was used in this study through DNA barcoding. A completely randomized design was employed in this research with 6 treatments and 5 trials per treatment. The treatments consisted of culture media with salinities of 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, and 36 ppt. According to the results of species identification using DNA barcoding, this species belongs to Oithona and is 98% identical to Oithona similis. The salinity of the culture medium had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on growth performance and egg production in O. similis. A salinity level of 18 ppt in the medium gave the best growth performance (total density 16.54±0.24 ind mL-1, population-specific growth rate of Oithona sp. 0.140±0.001 ind day-1) and egg production (24.40±0.55 eggs ind-1) for O. similis in culture. Based on the total density and egg production of O. similis, the optimum salinity for O. similis in the culture medium is 19.4 ppt.