Abstract

                                Daphnia spp. is one of the important live feed usable in practical aquaculture that is present in ponds all over India. Enrichment of Daphnia is essential to promote Aquaculture Industry. Hence the present study was focused to study in mass culture of Ceriodaphnia cornuta using cow dung, goat pellets, chicken droppings and cow urine along with groundnut cake and superphosphate. Groundnut oilcake had the highest nitrogen (4.97%), phosphorus (0.15%) and potassium (0.73%). Among the animal wastes cow urine had the highest amount of nitrogen (1.93%) and potassium (1%), while chicken droppings had the highest amount of phosphorus (0.80%). The population of Ceriodaphnia varied significantly with animal excreta. The highest mean population was observed in chicken droppings slurry at 50g per 20 liters of water.

Key words : Animal wastes, Zooplankton, Ceriodaphnia cornuta, Organic manures.