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Galaxea, Journal of Coral Reef Studies (Special Issue): 123-132（2013） Proc 2nd APCRS Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera in three different water levels in the marine waters of San Francisco, Cebu, Philippines Serapion N. TANDUYAN1, *, Ricardo B. GONZAGA2 and Virginia D. BENSIG2 1 University Professor Cebu Technological University­ Camotes Campus 6050 San Francisco, Cebu, Philippines 2 Instructor I Cebu Technological University­ Camotes Campus 6050 San Francisco, Cebu, Philippines * Corresponding author: Serapion N. Tanduyan E­mail: [email protected] Abstract Caulerpa lentillifera has been reared tradi­ plastic screen dominates the highest growth rate of all the tionally cultured in bottoms of fishponds and was first culture media used from site 1, 2 and 3. Middle layer is reared in Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines. Conversion of the best layer for the off­ bottom culture of lato using the mangroves into ponds has been banned in the Philippines plastic screen cage based on the highest mean growth of and the off bottom culture of this alga was studied in order the plant. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed that to find its growth in an open and natural body of waters there is no significant difference on the growth rate of cultured at three different water levels and culture sites. Caulerpa lentillifera placed in plastic screen cage, tubular This study used the Randomized Complete Block Design nets with the different water levels in the three culture (RCBD) with four culture media as treatment. Treatment sites. 1, use plastic screen cage; Treatment 2, tubular plastic screen; Treatment 3 nylon screen cage and Treatment 4 Keywords Caulerpa lentillifera, Off bottom culture, tubular nylon screen. The culture media were placed in Water levels and San Francisco, Cebu Philippines. bamboo raft where this was divided into three layers representing the surface, midlayer and bottom layer and placed in different sites which are muddy, rocky and sandy bottom. Sampling was done every 15 days for three Introduction months taking wet weight of the plant as factor. Results showed that as to the efficiency of each culture medium Seaweed farming is one of the top fishery export com­ based on the water level it was found out that on the modities of the Philippines. This industry is gaining im­ surface level the C. lentillifera placed in plastic screen portance in the export market. They have been used as cage has the highest growth rate in Site 1 (muddy site) and food, medicine, soil conditioner, and source of salt. As tubular nets ranked first in site 2 (rocky) and site 3 (sandy). food, seaweeds are made into salads, boiled as vegetables, For the middle layer based on the mean weight of the mixed with various species, pickled, cooked with coconut plant showed that tubular nets has the highest in site 1 milk and many more. (muddy) and plastic screen cage got the highest in site 2 Caulerpa locally known as lato in Visayan is a green (rocky) and 3 (sandy). For the bottom layer the tubular alga which is now cultured in some parts of the country. 124 Tanduyan et al.: Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera This alga grows in the marine and brackish waters where terms of weight reared at different culture sites: the water is clear and with slow current. The thallus is a. Muddy greenish and sometimes brownish depending on the qual­ b. Sandy ity of water and soil. c. Rocky There are various species of Caulerpa found in the Philippine waters. Of this, Caulerpa lentillefera is the Nature and Importance of the Study species best adopted for pond culture although certain Camotes Islands is noted of its Camotes Sea which is varieties of C. racemosa maybe utilized as well (Trono et considered as one of the fishery grounds of the Philippines al. 1985). It is abundant of marine flora and fauna and presently In the Visayas, like in Calawisan, Lapu lapu City, pond fishermen have felt the declined catch. production of this alga has been successfully cultured in Caulerpa species are gathered in some parts of the commercial quantity for local and international markets Islands which evidenced the presence of the plant in the (Romano, 1999). wild. These have been totally harvested by the gleaners In the Philippines conversion of mangrove areas into and eventually it disappeared. fishponds was totally banned because of its degradation Due to the declining condition on the supply of the due massive conversion of the mangrove areas in the fast marine products including Caulerpa and other edible sea two decades in to fishponds. That is why there is less pro­ weeds, this study on the off bottom culture of C. lentillifera duction of C. lentillefera cultured in fish ponds. was made in order to provide food and livelihood to the It is on this regard that the cultivation of this species of farmers and fishermen because the farming venture re­ alga was tried in the open sea to determine whether this quire less capital and technology to be adopted by the will favorably grow in this type of habitat. Hence, off interested farmers. This may also contribute to the real­ bottom culture of this alga was studied in order to find its ization of the food sufficiency program of our government. growth in an open and natural body of waters cultured at three different water levels and different culture sites which may provide livelihood option to the fishermen and Materials and methods other interested person who wanted to engage in the cultivation of this particular commodity. Study site The study site is the marine waters of Northern Poblacion, San Francisco, Cebu specifically the coastline Objectives of the study of CSCST­ Fishery and Industrial College (Fig. 2). Camotes Island is composed of three islands namely: 1. To determine the efficiency on the different culture Pacijan, Poro and Ponson. They are found off the north media on the growth rate of Caulerpa lentillifera at dif­ eastern coast of the island of Cebu and lies 10˚37′ to ferent culture sites and water levels: 10º43′10″ north and 124º24′40″ to 124º29′4″ East. The a. Plastic Screen Cage western most Island of Pacijan is entirely within the po­ b. Tubular Plastic Screen litical jurisdictions of the municipality of San Francis co c. Nylon Screen Cage while the eastern most and smallest island of Ponson d. Tubular Nylon Screen belongs to the municipality of Pilar. The island Poro is 2. To find out the growth rate ofCaulerpa lentillifera in split between the municipalities of Poro and Tudela. The terms of weight at different water levels: islands belong to the Province of Cebu. a. Surface Three specific sites were considered as experimental b. Middle sites where the rafts were placed: the sandy, rocky and c. Bottom muddy site. 3. To find out the growth rate ofCaulerpa lentillifera in Experimental site number 1 is the sandy site (Fig. 3) Tanduyan et al.: Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera 125 has bottom ranging from pure sand with mixture of small The experimental plant amount of mud. Site two is rocky site (Fig. 4) where rocks Caulerpa lentillifera (Fig. 11) however, has a thallus and boulders dominate the bottom. Site three is the muddy consisting of horizontal branched stolon and erect site (Fig. 5) where the bottom is muddy and has loose branches, the latter densely covered by many short ramuli bottom with some sea grasses growing on it. almost the entire length of their axes.; each ramulus has a short stalk and a globose tip, 1-3 mm in diameter; distinct Experimental Raft constriction between the tip of the stalk and the base of the A three layered bamboo raft was used in the study (Fig. globose tip is distinctive of these species. This kind of 6), The height of each raft was 4 meters and the width is 3 alga commonly grows in shallow, sandy to muddy lagoon meters such that each layer which resembles the surface, and reef flats not exposed during low tides where the middle layer and bottom is one meter from each other and water is generally calm. It may form extensive bed in one half meter is provided from the surface and from the exceptionally good habitats. It is commercially farmed in bottom to give an allowance that the plants are not exposed ponds and lagoons and is the most edible species of to direct sunlight in the case of the surface layer and it will Caulerpa. The alga is a stenohaline species and thrives in not sag into the bottom in the case of the bottom layer. areas where salinity of the water is below 25 parts per thousand. Growth and natural stocks is thus seasonal in Experimental Cage habitats where water becomes brackish during rainy There were two kinds of nets being used in the study; seasons, or those cultured in ponds. the plastic screen and the nylon screen net. They are used to cover the four types of the culture methods being used; Source of Seedlings (Fig. 12) the plastic screen cage, the nylon screen cage, the tubular The Caulerpa seedlings were taken from the ponds of plastic screen and the tubular nylon screen (Figs. 7-10). Carmen, Cebu City. The cages have the size of one square foot and the tubular nets are one meter long and having a diameter of 1 Sorting of Seedlings (Fig. 13) foot. They are alternately placed in each layer of the raft Caulerpa seedlings were sorted by getting the dead resembling the surface, middle and the bottom. They are seedlings and other associated species attaching on it. set in three different sites; the muddy, rocky and sandy Only the healthy ones were used as experimental plant.

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