Brine shrimp (Artemia salina) inoculation in tropical salt ponds: a preliminary guide for use in Thailand

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This work paper is prepared in view of the wish of the Thai Department of Fisheries to inoculate salt ponds with Artemia salina to produce cysts. Artemia cysts are used to obtain live food in many aquacultural operations, but especially in the hatchery of the giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii. These inoculations, if successful, could encourage the Thai Government in the future to conduct experiments in large-scale cyst production. Indeed, up to this date, Thailand completely de pends on import of expensive Artemia cysts from abroad. The yearly expenditure in cysts by the Department of Fisheries for the national fisheries stations, is estimated to be more than US$50 000. The inoculation ponds considered are: (i) ponds in the National Fishery Station at Samut Sakhorn (still to be completed), and (ii) privately-owned salt ponds of salt farmers in the vicinity of the National Fishery Station at Chachoengsao. Although previously, several inoculations in other parts of t he world have proven to be successful, no written guides are yet available. Trial inoculations in Thailand being considered important, the necessity was felt to gather all available information on Artemia inoculations and cyst production into one working paper to serve as guide on improving the chances of a successful experiment.

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