Effect of water temperature on growth and development of red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii (Girard, 1852)

One of the most widespread commercial crayfish species in world’s aquaculture is the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii. The aim of this work was to analyse the effect of temperature on growth parameters of Procambarus clarkii grown in the water temperature range from 22.0 to 32.0°C with a temperature step of 2.0°C (6 experimental groups in total). During the experiment, theoretical (analysis, systematisation, comparison), experimental (laboratory) and generally accepted research methods were used. The results clearly demonstrated the inhibitive effect of high water temperatures – 30.0°C (Group 5) and 32.0°C (Group 6) – on the growth and development (length and weight gain, survival rate) of crayfish, while the lowest water temperature in this experiment (Group 1, 22.0°C) contributed to more efficient growth and supported survival of crayfish. For example, the final average weight of crayfish in Group 1 (22.0°C) was 15.20±1.97 g, in Group 2 (24.0°C) the average weight was 13.71±1.35 g, crayfish of Group 3 (26.0°C) reached an average weight of 14.85±1.75 g, Group 4 (28.0°C) – 14.08±2.25 g, and in Group 5 (30.0°C) and Group 6 (32.0°C) the average weight was 9.75±2.33 g and 6.60±0.36 g, respectively, which was 1.5 and 2.3 times less than in Group 1. At the same time, the linear growth was more homogeneous and amounted to 8.00±0.29 cm in Group 1, an average of 7.38±0.29 cm in Group 2, individuals of Group 3 had an average length of 7.66±0.22 cm, in Group 4 – 7.42±0.33 cm, and in high-temperature Groups 5 and 6 the average length was 6.80±0.50 cm and 6.04±0.26 cm, respectively. A tendency to decrease the survival rate of crayfish with increasing water temperature in the groups was established. The survival rate in Group 1 at the end of the study was 58.82%, in Group 2 – 41.18%, Group 3 – 47.06%, Group 4 – 41.18%, Groups 5 and 6 experienced the greatest pressure of the temperature on survival – 35.29% and 29.41%, respectively