EFFECT OF SPLIT BAMBOO SUBSTRATE ON PERIPHYTON AND GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF PACIFIC WHITE SHRIMP, PENAEUS VANNAMEI (BOONE, 1931) IN LOW SALINE GROUNDWATER CULTURE

An experimental study was undertaken to assess the impact of substrate and periphyton on the growth, survival and feed utilization of Penaeus vannamei. This study was conducted in cement tanks with bamboo as substrate. The average submersion depth of the substrates was maintained at 85.16 ?? 0.26 cm in the treatment tanks. There was significant difference (P value < 0.05) observed in the values of Chlorophyll a (3.12 ?? 0.32 ??g/cm2 minimum and 16.29 ?? 1.15 ??g/cm2 maximum values), dry weight (2.49 ?? 1.46 mg/cm2), ash (0.78 ?? 0.46 mg/cm2), ash free dry weight (1.71 ?? 1.0 mg/cm2) and autotrophic index (146 ?? 18) in terms of submersion time but there was no significance observed in terms of substrate depth. The bio growth parameters (Average Body Weight - 15.4 ?? 4.9 g, Average Daily Growth - 0.165 ?? 0.01 g, Specific Growth Rate - 7.67 ?? 0.03, Protein Efficiency Ratio - 3.12 ?? 0.15 and Food Conversion Ratio - 0.92 ?? 0.00018) were also observed to be high in treatments with the substrate. Feed usage in the treatment tank was found to be reduced by 19% compared to the control tank. The Periphyton community recorded on the treatment tanks with split bamboo poles as substrate comprised of 4 groups analysis of microbial load on the split bamboo substrate have shown a significant difference between 10 cm and 40 cm depth and 10 cm and 70 cm depth of the substrate (P<0.05), whereas, there was no significance substrate.