Prawn Culture

Prawn is the most important cultured aquatic crustacean, prized for flesh that is palatable, rich in glycogen and protein, and low in fat. India's prawn fishery splits into four types by location: shallow water prawn fishery, restricted to shallow waters on the west coast; estuarine/backwater/saline-lake prawn fishery, drawing on backwaters along the western coast, Ennur, Pulicat, Chilka lake and the Ganga–Brahmaputra estuaries; freshwater prawn fishery, catching prawns from rivers and lakes across India; and marine prawn fishery, taking most of its catch from species of the family Penaeidae along the Indian coast. Commonly cultured species include Penaeus indicus, Penaeus monodon, Metapenaeus dobsoni and Macrobrachium rosenbergii. For freshwater prawn culture, Macrobrachium rosenbergii — common in rivers, fields and low-salinity estuaries — is collected from ponds, rivers and paddy fields into aerated tanks; a mated pair is kept separately for fertilization, and once eggs are laid, spawning tanks (kept at 24–30°C and pH 7–8) are used for hatching into first- and second-stage larvae fed on artificial feed; young prawns of about 5 cm (60 days old) can then be reared in fresh or lightly brackish ponds and rice fields, with harvesting possible twice a year. Marine prawn culture success depends on site selection, water quality, soil quality and seed availability; preparing the farm involves draining and sun-drying the pond bed with light tilling, applying agricultural lime to absorb excess CO2 and supply the calcium pr …