International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research

International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research

ISSN: 2456-7248
Impact Factor: RJIF 5.44
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Volume 3; Issue 1; January 2018; Page No. 31-34

Effect of chlorination on the production of shrimp (Penaeus monodon) in brackishwater ponds

*
Azhar Ali, MS Khatun, S Bikash Saha, MNS Mamun Siddiky, D Kumer Mondal, S Lutfor Rahman
Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, Brackishwater Station, Paikgacha, Khulna, Bangladesh

Abstract
An experiment was conducted to standardize dose of chlorine for improving sanitation of shrimp (Penaeus monodon) culture in
brackishwater ponds in modified extensive system over a period of 120 days from 27 March 2013 to 25 July 2013. The experiment
designed with four treatments whereas one treatment is a control of without any chlorine dose and other three treatments designed
with three chlorine doses such as T1 (No chlorination), T2 (3 ppm), T3 (6 ppm) and T4 (9 ppm) each with three replicates. Total
bacterial load reduced after application of chlorine. After chlorination at 3-9 ppm, about 82-85% total bacterial load was reduced.
Increase in concentration of chlorine concentration showed no significant reduction of bacterial load. But after two days, bacterial
load again started to increase. Load of total coliform also reduced drastically after application of chlorine at the same rate. The
mean final weight of shrimp was 18.89±1.20, 17.90±0.50, 19.25±0.53 and 19.00±0.66 g in T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. The
highest mean survival was recorded in T1 (77.16±4.41%) followed by T2 (77.09±4.26%), T3 (63.61±3.35%) and T4
(64.24±3.25%). The highest production was recorded in T1 (730.73±87.55 kgha -1) which was significantly differed from (p < 0.05)
T2, T3 and T4. Higher concentration of chlorine also showed no negative impact on the growth of shrimp but mortality of some
moulted shrimp was observed. The present study, it was revealed that increasing the chlorine doses, decreasing the production and
without chlorination highest production was recorded.

Keywords: chlorination, production, Penaeus monodon, brackishwater ponds

Introduction target of more than 2.0 Tonha-1 [4]. To enhance primary

Shrimp culture practice expanded rapidly and created a productivity, ghers are fertilized with different fertilizers.
remarkable development in the fisheries sector of Bangladesh. Excess fertilization may also create uncongenial environment
The area of brackishwater shrimp culture spread from 0.064 increasing the level of ammonia, intolerable to the stocked
million ha in 1985-86 to 0.173 ha in 2006-07. Over the same shrimp. BFRI conducted primary study on this aspect and
period, production of shrimp increased from 13,600 to 52,893 reported that addition of urea up to 1.5 ppm will not be
MT. This increase in production is not due to intensification of harmful for shrimp but will be beneficial for increasing
culture practice but for horizontal expansion of shrimp culture. primary productivity to a considerable extent in modified
There was a trend of intensification of culture in early nineties extensive culture [5]. After nineties decades, most of the
but after the spread of viral disease in shrimp in 1994~1995 [1], brackishwater shrimp ponds have been affected by various
it has been totally stopped. Even farmers have become very pathogenic diseases. There are many ways to prevent these
cautious about stocking of shrimp to their ghers. In this way, pathogenic diseases and chlorination is one of them. Chlorine
the sequence of shrimp culture practice in the ghers of the is mainly used in brackish water aquaculture for sanitation.
whole coastal areas has been changed. Deb [2] also reported Sanitation refers to the selective destruction of disease causing
that in spite of vast potential, there had been an unregulated, organisms. Chlorination will also successfully eliminate toxic
uncontrolled and uncoordinated horizontal expansion of the plankton (dinoflagellates) and aquatic animal pests and
shrimp farming rather than an attained efficiency of the competitors that come in with the water supply. Poduska and
production system. Hershey [6] invented a mathematical model to explain virus
Most of the farmers (>90%) still follow the extensive activation by chlorination, based on the principles of first
traditional method, which is characterized by a larger sized order, irreversible chemical reaction kinetics. Chlorination is
gher, low stocking density, no feeding and fertilization and also used to include attempts to destroy disease organisms,
poor management of water quality. As a result, production is control phytoplankton abundance, and improve water quality
lower and the farmers often incur losses rather than profit. in ponds stocked with fish or shrimp [7]. Sukumar et al. [8]
Wahab [3] recommended the use of smaller units of shrimp studied the impact of chlorination on water quality of shrimp
culture area and better management practices to improve this farms and revealed that even though chlorination helped in
situation and obtain a sustained production and profits. preventing horizontal propagation of diseases, it had an
Shrimps are cultivated in many different systems worldwide – adverse effect on the development of algae in shrimp ponds
from extensive to super-intensive ones. Recently Bangladesh and on the survival of the other biota of the receiving water
Fisheries Research Institute developed high tech semi- bodies. Browdy et al [9] developed a bio-secure shrimp culture
intensive shrimp culture in closed system with a production system and reported destruction of at least 99% of the bacteria

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International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research

and yeast present in the filtered seawater by chlorination. checked as indicator of sanitation. The estimation of bacterial
Husnah and Chang [10] reported that chlorine at a dose of 1200 load was done before and after two hours and two following
and 2400 mgl-1 inactivated 100% bacteria within 2 days of successive days after application of chlorine. Total
contact time. With high chlorine dose, chlorination was heterotrophic bacteria were counted by pour plate technique
effective to inactivate bacteria only to a depth of 2.1 cm. The method and total coliform by most probable count (MPN)
present study undertaken different dose of chlorination on method as mentioned in APHA [11]. Primary productivity of
micro flora, water quality, survival and growth of shrimp, the ponds was monitored before and after two hours and two
Penaeus monodon. following successive days after application of chlorine
following classical dark and light bottle method as mentioned
Methodology by Adoni [12]. Basic water quality variables (viz., depth,
Experimental design temperature, salinity, pH, transparency, free carbon dioxide,
The experiment was conducted in 12 ponds of 1000 m2 each dissolved oxygen and alkalinity) were determined at fortnight
of Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, Brackishwater intervals following standard methods [11]. To maintain
Station, Paikgacha following the design as given in Table 1. undisturbed ecology of the ponds, no water was exchanged.
Only the evaporated water was replenished with the water of
Table 1: Design of the Experiment.
the adjacent canal. Health of the stocked shrimps was checked
Treatments
Replications Stocking density almost daily through check tray.
(T)
T1 No chlorination Harvesting of shrimp
T2 3 ppm
3 5/m2 After 120 days of rearing, all shrimp were harvested by de-
T3 6 ppm
T4 9 ppm watering the ponds and growth, survival and production were
estimated.
Pond preparation
The ponds were prepared by treating soil with lime (Quick Data Analysis
lime: dolomite 3:1) @ 250 kgha-1 and then filled with tidal Data were analyzed using MS Excel. One way analysis of
water up to a depth of 1.0 m. After that, all animalcules were variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the final weight,
killed by using 55ppm bleaching powder. The buffering survival and production. The Duncan’s test was used to
capacity of the pond water was strengthened by applying determine the differences among the treatments. Differences
dolomite @ 10-15 ppm. The pond water was fertilized with were considered statistically significant at 5% level.
urea and TSP @ 2.5 ppm, 3.0 ppm respectively. Fermented
molasses were applied to the pond water @ 15ppm to develop Results and Discussion
colour of water to check penetration of sunlight. If any pond Data on water quality parameters are shown in Table 2
was not grown sufficient primary production then again use of indicates that the recorded water quality parameters were
5 ppm fermented molasses. congenial for culture of shrimp. The highest water depth was
in T1 whereas lowest in T3 and the ranges of water depth was
Stocking and Management 95 to 110 cm. The ranges of transparency were 20 to 45cm
After production of sufficient plankton, required quantity of which indicates the productivity of ponds. Higher temperature
PCR (polymerized chain reaction) tested PL20 was stocked to of surface water was recorded in the month of April and May
the respective pond. The stocked shrimps were fed with of 35 0C. As depth of water was maintained around 1 meter,
commercial feed. The used different grades (crumble to pellet) no stress in shrimp was observed in spite of high surface water
of feed contains 39-45% protein, 3% lipid, 6% fiber, 18% ash temperature. Lower salinity was recorded during stocking the
and 11% moisture. Protein concentration was higher in feeds shrimp and salinity increased with the progress of culture
used for smaller shrimps. Feed was applied by spreading and period. This is due to replenishment of evaporated water with
adjusted fortnightly after sampling with cast net. The load of the.
total heterotrophic bacteria and total coliform of water was
Table 2: Water quality variables of ponds under different treatments
Treatments
Water quality Variables
T1 T2 T3 T4
Depth (cm) 100 - 109 98 - 110 95 - 108 96 -107
Transparency (cm) 35 - 45 20 - 40 25 - 45 30 - 45
Temperature (oC) 31 - 35 31 - 35 31 - 35 31 - 35
Salinity (ppt) 6 - 15 6 - 15 6 - 15 6 - 15
pH 7.8- 9.4 7.8 - 9.6 7.9 - 9.6 8.0 - 9.4
Morning dissolved oxygen (mgl-1) 3.6-8.8 3.8-6.6 4.6-7.2 4.8-7.8
Evening dissolved oxygen (mgl-1) 6.3-10.2 6.8-11.6 7.7-10.1 6.6-10.4
Total alkalinity 90 – 124 80-140 75 - 140 66 - 120

Higher saline water of the adjacent Shibsa River. The pH 3.6 mgl-1 in the morning and highest was in T2 of 11.6 mgl -1
ranges was 7.8 to 9.6 which was suitable ranges for shrimp in the evening. The range of total alkalinity was recorded 66
culture. The lowest dissolved oxygen was recorded in T1 of to 140 in shrimp culture pond during the culture period. The

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International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research

dissolved oxygen and total alkalinity were sufficient enough shown in Table 3, there is no significant change in
for the normal growth of shrimp. Similar water quality productivity where chlorination was not done. But
parameters were recorded by Saha and Ali [13] and Khatun et chlorination reduced both gross primary productivity and net
al. [14] in brackishwater shrimp culture pond. primary productivity. Reduction in productivity increased with
Primary productivity and bacterial count were determined to the increase in chlorine dose.
evaluate the impact of chlorination on pond environment. As

Table 3: Change in primary productivity after chlorination at different dose over a period of 120 days.
Gross primary productivity Net primary productivity Respiration
Dose of Change (%) Before Change (%) Before Change (%)
Before chlorination
chlorination After 2 After 2 chlorination After 2 After 2 chlorination After 2 After
(g C/m3/d)
hr. days (g C/m3/d) hr. days (g C/m3/d) hr. 2 days
No chlorination 1.800 +1.33 +2.22 1.350 -7.40 +0.29 0.450 +27.53 +8.00
3 ppm 1.675 -25.37 -31.34 1.225 -26.53 -59.35 0.450 -22.22 +44.89
6 ppm 1.900 -28.68 -53.57 1.250 -24.00 -68.00 0.650 -39.23 -15.38
9 ppm 1.800 -34.88 -67.53 1.250 -28.00 -91.84 0.550 -47.81 -12.36

Total bacterial load reduced after application of chlorine chlorine concentration showed no significant reduction of
(Table 4). After chlorination at 3 to 9 ppm, about 82-85% total bacterial load. But after two days, bacterial
bacterial load was reduced. Increase in concentration of

Table 4: Change in bacterial load of water after chlorination at different doses.

Total heterotrophic count Total coliform
Dose of chlorination Change (%) Before chlorination Change (%)
Before chlorination (CFU/ml)
After 2 hr. After 2 days (CFU/ml) After 2 hr. After 2 days
No chlorination 45×103 +2.22 +8.89 294 +2.04 +1.36
3 ppm 52×103 -81.94 -61.11 300 -89.00 -88.33
6 ppm 44×103 -83.53 -66.00 300 -92.00 -93.53
9 ppm 46×103 -84.78 -67.39 300 -97.00 -97.00

Load again started to increase. Load of total coliform also (77.16±4.41%) where shrimp was cultured without
reduced drastically after application of chlorine at the same chlorination. This survival is almost same with that of
rate. 77.09±4.26% in T2 treated with 3.00 ppm chlorine. There was
Production performance of shrimp under different treatments no significant difference (p > 0.05) was found between T1 and
has been furnished in Table 5. After 120 days of culture, the T2. But survival of shrimp is significantly reduced to 63.61%
mean final growth of shrimp was 18.89±1.20, 17.90±0.50, in T3 with 6.00 ppm chlorine and 64.25% in T4 treated with
19.25±0.53 and 19.00±0.66 g in T1, T2, T3 and T4, 9.00 ppm chlorine. This might be due to the fact that after
respectively. The mean values of final growth were no application of chlorine at 6 to 9ppm dose, some moulted
significantly different (p > 0.05) among the treatments. The shrimps were found dead at the periphery of the pond. This is
mean survival was 77.16±4.41%, 77.09±4.26%, 63.61±3.35% similar to the findings of Khatun et al. [14] who found that
and 64.24±3.25% in T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. The chlorination effect on bacterial load in brackishwater shrimp
mean highest survival of shrimp was found in T1 culture pond.

Table 5: Production performance of shrimp ((Penaeus monodon) in different treatments over a period of 120 days
Treatments Replications Final Wt (g) Survival (%) Production (Kg/ha)
R1 20.24 81.50 824.78
T1 R2 17.93 72.68 651.57
(No chlorination) R3 18.52 77.32 715.9
Average 18.89±1.20a 77.16±4.41a 730.73±87.55a
R1 18.18 72.40 658.12
T2
R2 18.18 80.72 733.74
(3 ppm chlorination)
R3 17.35 78.14 677.86
Average 17.90±0.50a 77.09±4.26a 689.91±39.22ab
R1 19.50 62.61 610.50
T3 R2 18.64 60.88 567.41
(6 ppm chlorination) R3 19.60 67.35 660.00
Average 19.25±0.53a 63.61±3.35b 612.64±46.33c
R1 18.28 61.25 559.83
T4 R2 19.60 67.35 660.00
(9 ppm chlorination) R3 19.12 64.12 612.99
Average 19.00±0.66a 64.24±3.25b 610.94±50.12c
Figures with different superscript differs significantly

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International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research

The mean production of shrimp was 730.73±87.55, Issues in Aquaculture Systems. (eds. R. Santhanam, V.
689.91±39.22, 612.64±46.33 and 612.64±46.33 kgha-1 over a Ramadhas, and P. Gopalakrishnan).Tamil Nadu
culture period of 120 days in T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Tuticorin,
The highest production was found in T1 where shrimp culture India. 1997, 43-46.
was done without chlorine and significantly different (p < 9. Browdy CL, Smyth T, Bratvold D. Preliminary
0.05) from T3 and T4 but not differ from T2 where the ponds development of a biosecure shrimp production system.
were treated with 3 ppm chlorination. But at @ 6ppm and Aquaculture'98, Book of Abstracts. Louisiana State
9ppm chlorination, the production of shrimp was significantly University, USA and World-Aquaculture-Society. 1998,
reduced 612.64 kgha-1 and 610.94 kgha-1 in T3, and T4, 71.
respectively. Saha and Ali [13] obtained the production of 10. Husnah L, Chang K. Chlorine demand and bacteria of
shrimp was 667.57-811.76 kg /ha with the average body low salinity shrimp pond sediment treated with different
weight of 20.81-23.95g after 120 days culture at the stocking chlorine doses. Aquacultural Engineering. 2001;
density of 5 Nos m-2. In another experiment, Saha et al. [15] 25(3):165-174.
reported 699.72-940.19 kgha-1 production of shrimp with the 11. APHA (American Public Health Association). Standard
average body wt of 17.23-23.95g at the same culture period, methods for the examination of water and waste water.
stocking density and feeding rate. These findings more or less 18th ed., APHA, Washington, D.C. 1992.
similar with the present study. However, the production in T3 12. Adoni AD. Workbook on Limnology. Protibha
and T4 was lower than T1 and T2, due to the fact that Publishers, Sagar, India. 1985, 216.
mortality of some moulted shrimp was observed after 13. Saha SB, Azhar A. Production potential of tiger shrimp,
application of higher dose of chlorine. Penaeus monodon by fertilization and reducing feed
supply. Bangladesh Journal of Zoological Society. 2015;
Conclusion 43(1):9-17.
From the present study it is stated that the higher dose of 14. Khatun MS, Rahman MM, Islam MA, Ali A. Effect of
chlorine in brackishwater shrimp culture pond decrease the Chlorination on Bacterial Load in Brackishwater Shrimp
production of shrimp due to higher mortality of moulted Culture Pond. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary
shrimp. But the lower dose of chlorination is reduced the Research. 2017; 6(3):542-545.
pathogenic load without any hamper of survival and 15. Saha SB, Begum N, Alam MJ. Production and economic
production of shrimp in brackishwater culture. So, further performance of different commercial feeds in
studies for a longer period with more treatments and brackishwater shrimp, P. monodon farming. Asiatic
replications should be done for more helpful results. Society of Bangladesh. 2009; 35(2):153-161.

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