Effect of natural diets on ovarian maturation and their relationship with hepatopancreas of female orange mud crab, scylla olivacea (HERBST, 1796) in cultured condition

Abstract

Lacking of information on crab nutritional requirement restricts the reproduction of crabs in aquaculture. The study focused on the effect of feeding diets; scadfish and squid on the ovarian maturation of female orange mud crab, Scylla olivacea. 20 individuals of immature female crabs with 10 individuals at each treatment were captivated for 60 days with ambient water parameters (salinity: 28 – 30 ppt; temperature: 28 – 30 °C; pH: 7.0 – 8.0). 30 individuals of control crabs were also collected from wild. Both captive (scadfish-fed and squid-fed) and wild caught crabs were dissected for morphological, histological, and biochemical analysis on ovary and hepatopancreas. Based on morphological and histological analysis on ovary, the GSI and oocyte size were significantly increased across the ovarian maturation stage. For biochemical analysis, high percentage of SAFAs, MUFAs, and PUFAs in both ovary and hepatopancreas of wild caught and captive crabs suggested their importance in delivering energy for reproduction.