AquaculturalEngineering 4 (1985) 21-32

Weight and Width Relationship of Freshwater Prawn

(Macrobrachium rosenbergii)*
Jaw-Kai Wang
Agriculture Engineering Department, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA

ABSTRACT It has been shown that there is no significant difference (P < O. 05) in the weight = f (width ) and orbit length = f (width ) relationships o f commercially produced male and female Macrobrachium rosenbergii in Hawaii. A regression equation o f the form Y = (A * X ** B )* e has been shown to adequately describe the above relationships. In particular Weight = 0.01278*(width)**2.5189, R **2 -- 0.978

Orbit length = O.1828*(width)**O. 77685, R **2 = 0.996 This relationship allows the development of a simple mechanical prawn size sorter.

INTRODUCTION Freshwater prawns M a c r o b r a c h i u m rosenbergii are commercially produced in Hawaii. In 1983, there were 20 farms with a total o f 238 acres under water, producing 270 000 lbs of prawns with a farmgate value of US$1-35 million (State o f Hawaii, 1983). There are a n u m b e r o f factors which have immediate effects on the profitability o f commercial prawn production. Yield and labor cost are among these. Shang (1981) has estimated that for a 40-ha farm and at $ 9 . 3 7 k g -1 ($4.251b-1), a per-hectare yield of 1 7 4 7 k g y e a r -1 is required in order to break even. A more recent but informal estimation * Journal Series No. 2852, the Hawaii Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. 21 Aquacultural Engineering 0144-8609/85/$03.30 Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England, 1985. Printed in Great Britain

22

J.-K. Wang

has put the break even point for medium to large Hawaii prawn farms (25-100 acres) at about 1400 kg ha -1 year-1 (1250 lb acre-1) at the 1984 average farmgate price of $11 kg-x ($5 lb-l). Since the 1983 state average annual yield is less than 1400 kg ha -a, an increase in yield is obviously needed to maintain the overall profitability of the industry. Traditionally, commercial prawn production in Hawaii has been done in two stages, hatchery and grow-out. In the hatchery stage, the prawns are hatched and grown to post-larvae under intensive culture. The postlarvae are then used to stock the grow-out ponds. In order to increase their yields, some farmers (Rietow, 1982) have begun to introduce a nursery stage in the production cycle so that the post-larvae are first grown to the juvenile stage in a nursery pond (or tank) and then used to stock the grow-out ponds. Gibson and Wang (1977) first suggested the advantages of having a nursery stage in the production cycle, and Kneale and Wang (1979) demonstrated that high density nurseries can be designed to have high survival rates. More recently, Shang (1982) and Malecha (1984) have also shown the benefits of including a nursery stage in prawn production. It is important in prawn production to remove market size prawns from the grow-out pond. Frequent and efficient harvest is another key to high yield. Size sorting is needed both in the nursery operation and during harvest. In the nursery operation, size sorting is needed to group juvenile prawns into appropriate size groups for stocking purposes. During the harvest operation, the undersized prawns need to be returned to the grow-out pond, and the above market size prawns, depending upon the market structure, may need to be grouped into two or more size classes.

PRAWN SIZE Size sorting of prawns can be simply defined as the selection and grouping of prawns by one or more physical characteristics. Several physical characteristics of a prawn can be used to define its size. The most frequently used dimensions are weight, orbit length, tail length and width (carapace width). Among these, weight is the commonly accepted measure of size in the marketplace and is also

Weight and width relationship or freshwater prawn

23

widely used by biologists to measure growth of the animal. Therefore, for both nursery and market prawn size sorting, weight seems to be the most appropriate measure to use. Unfortunately, available accurate weighing equipment that are capable of working at the required high speed are generally expensive. They also require exact singulation and often also require even spacing of items being fed into the equipment. The orbit length, defined as the distance from the posterior edge of the eye orbit in the carapace to the posterior end of the telson, is commonly used by researchers when reporting prawn size. It is also a good predictor of prawn weight. However, it is difficult to develop a simple mechanical device to determine orbit length quickly and easily. The distance between parallel planes tangent to the carapace over a prawn's gills is generally referred to as the prawn's width. Since the width of a prawn defines the smallest clearance between parallel planes (bars) through which the prawn will pass, it lends itself to prawn size determination by simple mechanical means (Arndt et al., 1984). This paper presents information on prawn weight, orbit length and width to show that width can be used as a basis for size sorting for both nursery and market size prawns and that prawn width is a good predictor of both prawn weight and orbit length.

DATA DESCRIPTION A total of 503 prawns, of which 221 were judged to be males and 39 were judged to be females and the rest undetermined, were randomly gathered from the AmOrient farm over a period of time during 1983. The sizes of male prawns varied from 1.4 g in weight (WT) and 8 mm in width (WD) to 135-7 g in WT, and to 39 mm in WD. For female prawns, the range was from 1.3 g in WT and 8 mm in WD to 85-2 g in WT and 31 mm in WD. Including the prawns with indeterminate sex, the size ranged from 0.05 g in WT and 4 mm in WD to 135 g in WT and 4 0 r a m in WD. The longest prawn was a male prawn 105 mm in orbit length (OLEN), 30 mm in WD and 128.7 g in WT. The shortest prawn was 15 mm in OLEN, 4 mm in WD, 0-05 g in WT, and with u n k n o w n sex. Figure 1 shows the male prawn weight and width distribution, Fig. 2 the female prawn weight and width distribution, and Fig. 4 the weight and width distribution of the entire 503 data points.

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Z-K. Wang
PREDICTED WEIGHT= 0.01165 (WIDTH)
140+

2.5525

130120llO1009060706050403020+ + + + + + -I-

0~ .

7.5

12.5

17.5

22.5

27.5

32.5

37.5

NIDTH. M M

Fig. 1.

Weight versus width for male prawns. (+) Observed; ( - - ) predicted.

POSTULATED MODEL Simple physical argument will show that when one o f the variables, i.e. WT, WD, or OLEN, is zero, the other two variables must be zero. Therefore, a model of the type

~'i = AiXiBiei
where ei = ei IND(O, o,.2) is postulated.

(1)

Weight and width relationship or freshwater prawn

902.907 PREDICTED HEIGHT= 0.00324 (HIOTH)

25

80.

.+

70.

60

W E 50I G H T 40G M

+ + +

30-

20-

10-

10

12

14

16

18 HIDTH,

20 MH

22

24

26

28

30

32

Fig. 2.

Weight versus width for female prawns. (+) Observed; (

) predicted.

F o r the relationships b e t w e e n prawn WT and WD, the postulated m o d e l is ~ "T ) / = Ai (WD)ffi ei (W (2)

where i = male, female or all prawns, - 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Least

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J.-K. Wang

TABLE 1 Summary of Least Square Regressions, WT = f(WD)

Ai
i= 1 i= 2 i= 3 0.01165 0.00324 0.01278

Bi
2.5525 2.907 2.5189

R2
0.985 0.956 0.987

5.0-

4.54, O-

3.5-

ii I ///II i1" ii I/ ////11/111

f
0 0 0

3.0-

2.5-

2.0-

1.5-

1.0-

// ii ii I 4. 0
2,0 2,2 2,4

0.5-

0.02.6 2,8
in

3.0
ram)

3.2

3.4

3.6

LOG(WIDTH

Fig. 3.

Weight versus width for prawns, log-log plot. Male: (+) observed; ( predicted. Female: (o) observed; ( - - - ) predicted.

Weight and width relationship or freshwater prawn

27

square regressions yielded the results given in Table 1. The table shows that the postulated model is reasonable. At this point, a question can be raised about whether or not the regression equations with i = 1 and 2, can be considered identical or, in other w,ords, whether or not there is any real difference between the relationship of WT versus WD for male and female Macrobrachium

rosenbergii.
The covariance analysis procedure outlined by Wine (1964) was used to answer this question. Taking logarithms to the base e in eqn (2) converts the model into the linear form. The transformed data of male and female prawns are plotted on Fig. 3. The regression lines are produced using eqn (3) and lnA; and Bi values from Table 2. ln(WT) i = l n A i + B i ln(WD)i + lnei (3)

The transformed model can be handled according to the standard procedures outlined by Wine (1964) or Dunn and Clark (1974). First the hypothesis B1 = B2 = B is used to see if there is any reason to suspect that the slopes of the lines are different. If the hypothesis is not rejected, the male and female prawn data are then pooled to calculate B, and using the same slope, lnAi is then calculated. Finally, the hypothesis A1 = A 2 = A is tested. If this hypothesis is not rejected, it is then concluded that there is no statistically significant difference between male and female prawns in their size relationship WT = f(WD). The first hypothesis to be tested is Bt = B2 = B. The calculations are performed using data from Table 2. S2 = 3.8115 + 2.9947 ( 2 2 1 - - 2) + (39 -- 2)
i' 1

= 0.02659
1 \ '

S~B,-B~)=0"02659 ,o.av,z[-GXgg~ +2.17,42}y , :0.01524 S(B, - B2) = 0- 12345 tB1 -- B2

S ( B , -- B2)

- 1.8599 1.96,

Since t(o.o2s,2s6)= 1.96 and the critical region is 1.96 < t < the hypothesis B I = B2 = B was not rejected.

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J.-K. Wang
TABLE 2 Log Weight and Width Regression of Male and Female Prawn Data

Male, i = 1
ni 221 -4.8589 2-6721 64.5528 60'7413 3.8115 8.5072 3.9690 3.3757

Female, i = 2
39 -5.7378 2.9017 21-4692 18'4745 2.9947 2.1942 3.3038 3.1408

lnA i Bi
SSwT, i = NOn WTi -- In WTi)2 SSreg,i SSres, i SSwD,i = NOn WDi - In WDi)2 In WTi = (~ In (WT)i)/n i In WDi = (~ In (WD)i)/n i

T h e s e c o n d h y p o t h e s i s to be tested i s A I = A 2 = A , or l n A l = l n A 2 = lnA. T h e weight and w i d t h data o f the male and female p r a w n s are first p o o l e d and, using a calculated B, l n A i is calculated. B = (8.5072) (2.6721) + (2.9017)(2.1942) (8.5072 + 2.9017) = 2.5505

al = lnA1 = ln(WT)l - - ( B ) ln(WD)l = - - 4 . 4 5 7 4 a2 = l n A 2 = l n ( W T ) 2 - - (B) In(WD)2 = - - 4 - 6 3 5 0 (64.5528) + (21.4692) --(2.55055) (8.5072 + 2.1942)

S~al-a9 =
= 0.2285 S(a _~2) = 0 . 4 7 8 0 --4.4574 + 4.6350 t = 0.4780 the

221 + 39 -- 3

= 0.3715 hypothesis A1--A2=A was not

Since t(o.o25,277)--1.960, rejected.

Weight and width relationship of freshwater prawn

29

The entire data set of 503 data points was then pooled to develop the resultant regression equation W/-T = 0.01278 (WD) 2"sis9
R 2 = 0.978

(4)

Figure 4 shows the actual and predicted weight and width relationship for prawns. Following identical procedures, regression equations of the type of eqn (1) were also developed for orbit length and width, and weight and orbit length (see Table 3).

140-~
130--

1202 110-

loo2 9o-~
N E 2 80~

[] 4-

G H T

Z 70-2

t
2 50-~
+ 0

8 M

#+

+4+ O O

30-

a @

20-2 10-2
0 ~ ~ . m ~ ~-

0 0

10

15

20
NIDTH, MM

25

30

35

40

Fig. 4.

Weight versus width for prawns. Observed: (+) male; (o) female; (~) unknown. ( - - ) Predicted. Predicted weight = 0.01278 (width) 2"s1~9

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J.-K. Wang

TABLE 3 Summary of Regression Equations, All Prawns (I7 = A X B)

17
Weight Weight Orbit length

R2

Note

Width Orbit length Width

0-01278 0.000032 6.1828

2-5189 3.2615 0.77685

0.978 0.978 0-996

Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6

140-

130120110-

1002
90 ~ H

+n %+
+

E 80I G

H T

70-"
60-

M 504030. 2010o o o

10

20

30

40

50

60 MM

70

90

90

100

110

ORBIT LENGTH.

Fig. 5. Weight versus orbit length for prawns. Observed: (+) male; (o) female; () unknown. ( ) Predicted. Predicted weight = 0-000032 (orbit length) 3a61s.

Weight and width relationship or freshwater prawn

II0Oil

31

i00-

80O

:~a a 4 .I-

80-

3+*
8 B
O

B I T L E
N

70OO

80cl

IS,:

G T H
, 50Il

oo/

M
M

40-

Ill
B

30.

20.

no []

I0.
0 5 I0 15 20 NIOTH. MM 25 30 35 40

Fig. 6.

Orbit length versus width for prawns. Observed: (+) male; () female; (m) unknown. ( - - ) Predicted. Orbit length = 6.1828 (width) 'v%Ss.

CONCLUSION It has been shown that there is no statistically significant difference between male and female Macrobrachium rosenbergii raised commercially in Hawaii regarding their weight versus width, orbit length versus width, and weight versus orbit length relationships.

32

J.-K. Wang

It is concluded that eqn (1) is an adequate model and by using this model, prawn weight and orbit length can be predicted by prawn width. Based upon the above, a mechanical sorter using a pair o f divergent rollers has been developed. The sorter has been used to sort both market size as well as nursery prawns (Arndt et al., 1984). ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Measurements of prawn sizes were taken by Mr Loren D. Gautz, former Research Associate, Agricultural Engineering Department, University o f Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii. The work was supported by grants from the Sea Grant College Program, NOAA, and the Department of Land and Natural Resources, State o f Hawaii (contract no. 15630). REFERENCES Arndt, G. D., Gautz, g. D. & Wang, J.-K. (1984). Mechanical size grading of postharvest prawns. 15th Annual World Mariculture Society Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, 03/18-22/84. Dunn, O. J. & Clark, V. A. (1974). Applied Statistics: Analysis of Variance and Regression, John Wiley and Sons, New York, chapter 13. Gibson, R. T. & Wang, J,-K. (1977). An alternative prawn production systems design in Hawaii. Sea Grant Technical Report, UNIHI-SEAGRANT-TR-77-05, University of Hawaii. Kneale, D. C. & Wang, J.-K. (1979). A laboratory investigation of Macrobrachium rosenbergii nursery production. Proc. World Marieulture Society, 10, 359-68. Malecha, S. (1984). The effect of pre-harvest size grading and stock rotation in pond cultured freshwater prawns Macrobrachium rosenbergii. 15th Annual World Mariculture Society Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, 03/18-22/84. Rietow, A. (1982). One approach to farm construction. Proc. Third Annual Big Island Aquaculture Conference, Hilo. Hawaii, 05/14-16/82, pp. 33-5. State of Hawaii (1983). Unpublished farm survey, Department of Land and Natural Resources. Aquaculture Development Program. Shang, Y. C. (1981). Freshwater (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) production in Hawaii, practices and economics. Sea Grant Miscellaneous Report, UNIHI-SEAGRANTMR-81-07, University of Hawaii. Shang, Y. C. (1982). Some potential pond management strategies of freshwater prawn farming in Hawaii. Proc. Third Annual Big Island Aquaculture Conference, Hilo, Hawaii, 05/14-16/82, pp. 84-7. Wine, R. L. (19641). Statistics for Scientists and Engineers, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, section 14.10.