THE EFFECTS OF DENSITY ON CULTURE OF LITOPENAEUS VANNAMEI IN LABORATORY CONDITION (FIBERGLASS TANK)

The white leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) was introduced to Iran in 2005 by Iranian Fisheries Research Organization. In this study which was carried out at the Iran Shrimp Research Center in Bushehr, shrimp growth in three density treatments 50, 100 and 150 PCs/m3 with three replications were compared. The experiment was conducted for 50 days in fiberglass tanks (three ton capacity). Daily tests of salinity, pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen were also carried out. We found that the mean salinity, pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen were 30.2ppt, 7.9, 25.5 degrees centigrade and 6.2 mg/l respectively. We recorded a mean weight of 2.96, 2.17 and 1.87 grams for shrimps in 50, 100 and 150 PCs/m3 respectively. The statistical analysis indicated that there was a significant relationship between mean weight and density of shrimps (P<0.05). The maximum survival rate 95.93% in150 PCs/m3 treatment indicates the tolerance of the species to high density culture. The minimum FCR 0.8 was seen in 50 PCs/m3. The mean FCR 0.81, 1 and 1.1 and the mean survival rate 87.56, 95.11 and 95.93 were seen in 50, 100 and 150PCs/m3 treatments respectively.