Abstract:
The giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, is a commercially important species of crustacean cultured extensively throughout Southeast Asia. A study was undertaken to investigate the present of the bacteria in cultivated M. rosenbergii at marine hatchery of University Malaysia Terengganu, Terengganu and to determine the correlation of antibiotic and heavy metal resistance patterns. Total plate count {TPC) were ranged froml.6x 10-2 to 46x10-2 . The isolate were comprised as Aeromonas sp.,
Pseudomonas spp., E. coli, Vibrio spp., Salmonella- Shigella and Enterobacter which identified based on morphological typing by using selective agar plating such as Eosin Methylene-blue Lactose Sucrose Agar (EMB), Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate Agar (XLD), MacCONKEY agar, Thiosulfate Citrate Bile Sucrose Agar {TCBS) and Pseudomonas Aeromonas Selective Agar Base (GSP). Antibiotic succeptibility were conducted by using 15 different antibiotics that were commonly used in hatcheries. The study would help developing effective strategies for controlling pathogen in rearing system in hatchery thus useful for reduced the disease that effected M rosenbergii. This study was initiated as a preliminary attempt to establish the normal bacterial counts and aerobic, heterotrophic microflora found in freshwater prawn
hatcheries in Malaysia, and their resistance to various antibiotic and heavy metal and thus the correlation their resistant between antibiotic and heavy metal. This information will help in the future assessment of significance of isolates from diseased larvae in epizootic bacterial diseases.
