Artemia franciscana was introduced in Kenyan salt works in the early 1980s. The eight salt works along the Kenyan coast are credited for Artemia production since A. franciscana was first inoculated in Kenya about 4 decades ago. Genetically, the Kenyan Artemia is comparable to those from the Great Salt Lake and San Francisco Bay, which are considered as important live feed in aquaculture. In terms of reproduction, the Kenyan Artemia population (KAP) outperforms the original inoculants since it has adapted to the local environmental circumstances. However, information is lacking concerning reproductive success of the KAP when fed with different supplementary diets. One gram of A. fransiscana cysts was weighed and placed in a 2L plastic container with 1L of filtered seawater. The container was incubated for 24 h under continuous illumination and aeration. Hatched nauplii was fed with micro-algae until maturity, after which they were coupled in a ratio of 1:1 and stocked in 20 vials, 5 vials for each treatment. There were four experimental diets used: ALGAE 100%; Wheat pollard 100%;
Omena dust 50% + wheat pollard 50%; Omena dust 100%. Only males who died during the experiment were replaced, females who died, vial was discontinued for the duration of the experiment. The results revealed that the ALGAE treatment yielded the highest total production of cysts and nauplii. Notably, the results also indicated a synergistic effect in the group receiving the combined fish meal and wheat bran diet, which outperformed the separate Fishmeal and wheat bran treatments in terms of total cyst and nauplii production. The FM treatment (nauplii, cysts production) suggests that protein alone is insufficient to maximize nauplii production. Conversely, cyst production was highest in WB indicating a stress-induced reproductive strategy.
Key words: A. fransiscana, microalgae, formulated feeds, nauplii.