A study on effects of nutrition on growth and survival of oyster larvae Crassostrea angulata for selective breeding program

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of different nutrition on growth (growth rate, shell height, shell length), eyed spat larvae rate and survival rate of Crassostrea angulata derived from the wild Taiwanese coastline (China). Three microalgae species of Nannochloropsis oculata, Isochrysis galbana and Chaetoceros calcitrans were fed to oyster larvae at different ratios and time points from D-larvae (day 1) to eyed spat larvae (day 16). The experiment was designed with five treatments NT1, NT2, NT3, NT4 and NT5, three replicates per treatment in the 200 l tanks. The results showed that the highest survival rate (83.28±9.14%) was obtained in the NT4 treatment, in which the diet combined all three algae species at a ratio of 1:1:1 throughout 16 days of culture (p<0.05). Shell size and daily growth rate were highest in treatments NT2 and NT3, which used algae I. galbana and C. calcitrans from culture days no.4-16, showing a statistically significant difference compared to the other treatments (p<0.05). The rate of eye spot larvae was also highest in groups NT2, NT3 and NT4 (p<0.05). Depending on specific production goals, the nutritional regimes in NT3, NT2 and NT4 are most suitable for family breeding or producing oyster seeds for commercial farming.