Survival and Reproductive Responses of Four Artemia Strains in Low Salinity

Abstract

The brine shrimp, Artemia thrives in sea water salinity. In such condition, high survival and nauplii production rather than cysts should be expected. In this study, low salinity (0-32 gL^-1) was tested for its effect on survival and some reproductive traits of four Artemia strains: Artemia franciscana from the Great Salt Lake (GSL) and Vinh Chau as well as parthenogenetic strains from Tuz and Balikun. Survival at instar I and II developmental stages was tested in axenic condition over 48 h, while that of two inoculation ages (0 and 8 days) was tested in xenic condition over nine days. Reproductive traits were also assessed xenically. Results showed that in the xenic test, the GSL strain had significantly (p<0.05) higher survival at 20 and 32 gL^-1.  No difference (p>0.05) was found between the two instar developmental stages tested. Similarly, no significant differences (p>0.05) were observed among the inoculation ages at the different salinities except at 5 gL^-1. The GSL strain had significantly (p<0.05) higher offspring produced as nauplii. We conclude that 20 gL^-1 salinity and the GSL strain are the most suitable when considering biomass culture for the purpose of nauplii production as live food for aquaculture species.