This study was conducted in a solar salt work in Malindi, Kenya with the aim to investigate the effect of feeding Artemia franciscana (Vietnam strain) with fertilized and un-fertilized green water on its growth and reproduction through parallel production runs over three months. Additionally, a laboratory culture test aimed to study the effect of temperature (28, 32 and 36°C) on survival, growth and reproduction and the thermotolerance of A. franciscana presently occurring in the saltworks in Kenya, in comparison with San Francisco Bay (SFB) and Vinh Chau (VC) Artemia. The objective was to observe to what extent the Malindi A. franciscana has adapted to the local conditions over the 2 decades since it has been inoculated. Questionnaires were submitted to the local population and aimed at assessing the valuability of the project to the community and level of awareness of Artemia culture practices in Malindi. In the field, significantly high (p<0.05) differences in nutrient parameters in the fertilized culture ponds and fertilized reservoir ponds especially during the third month were recorded. Significantly (p<0.05) higher growth, population density, earlier maturation and fecundity were observed in the fertilized culture ponds as compared to the control ponds. This indicates that fertilization of the Artemia ponds is of utmost important for better production and maximizing reproductive parameters. Adding supplemental feeds in the culture ponds further helps in sustaining Artemia production. For the laboratory tests, one-way ANOVA revealed a significant (p<0.05) interaction between strain and temperature, for most of the reproductive parameters. SFB strain seemed to survive better at 28°C compared to other strains while Kenyan strains performed even better than VC at 32°C. None of the strains performed well at 36°C. Due to this better response of the Kenyan strains (especially Kn2) and the VC strain they may be regarded as the most superb strains for production in the salt works in the Malindi area. Finally, the questionnaire results showed that 95% of the villagers were aware of the Artemia culture initiatives and three quarters of the interviewees showed their appreciation to the Artemia culture project, which gives good hopes that the Artemia production techniques will on the long run be implemented by the local rural population.
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