Influence of Addition of Murbei (Morus alba L.) Flowers to Food for Fathering Mangrove CRABS (Scylla serrata) Apartment Systems

Abstract

Mangrove crab (Scylla serrata) is one of the fishery commodities that has high economic value. In Indonesia, crab cultivation has been widely developed, it can be seen from the cultivation media used, namely using vertical crab houses (apartments) with the RAS system. However, the problem in the mangrove crab cultivation system lies in the feed, the lack of nutrients in the feed results in non-optimal crab growth so that it is less attractive to consumers and causes its economic value to decline. Therefore, alternative feed is needed in the form of feed pellets that are in accordance with the nutritional needs of mangrove crabs and the addition of feed raw materials in the form of mulberry leaf flour in feed that can stimulate the growth of mangrove crabs. Therefore, this study aims to determine the optimal dose of mulberry leaf flour for mangrove crab feed in stimulating growth. This study used an experimental method conducted using a completely randomized design (CRD) consisting of 5 treatments and 3 replicates.  Treatments in this study include: A (Control), B (7.5%), C (15%), D (22.5%) and E (30%). The results showed that the administration of mulberry leaf flour with different doses in mangrove crab feed had a real effect (P<0.05) on the growth of absolute weight (W), absolute length (P), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and feed utilization efficiency (EPP) and had no real effect (P>0.05) on the Survival Rate (SR). Treatment C (15%) is the best dose of mulberry leaf flour that can support the growth and survival of mangrove crabs. the highest values were W (14.6±2.6 d), P (0.6±0.3 b), SGR (0.34±0.06 s), FCR (18.39±3.50 a) and EPP (48.51±2.80 c).