Production of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii in Israel. I. Integration into fish polyculture systems

D. Cohen*, Z. Ra'anan, A. Barnes

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

Two major problems observed in prawn monoculture can be solved using polyculture with fish: 1. (a) The introduction of low stocking densities of common carp, silver carp and grass carp is shown to prevent undesired unicellular or multicellular algal blooms and to improve the oxygen regime. No effect on prawn yield characters is observed, while the marginal fish yield improves the profitability of the pond. 2. (b) The low average weight and the wide size distribution of prawns stocked at high densities are avoided in a strategy of marginal prawn production with high stocking densities of common carp, Tilapia sp. and mullet in commercial ponds. Stocking of prawns at a low density of about 5000 ha-1 results in 90% of the prawns growing to the large market size (>45 g) within 130 days, a survival rate of 43-96% and yields of 96-312 kg ha-1. Since prawns grow on natural productivity alone, and the production costs are shared, prawn yields at such levels are highly profitable.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)67-76
Number of pages10
JournalAquaculture
Volume31
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1983

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