Avaliação de parâmetros produtivos e biológicos da ostra nativa Crassostrea gasar (Adanson, 1757) como subsídio ao desenvolvimento da ostreicultura em ambientes estuarinos do Estado do Maranhão

Abstract

This thesis evaluated productive and biological parameters of the native oyster on Maranhão Island to contribute to the improvement of cultivation methods suitable to the region’s environmental characteristics. To attain this objective, three experiments were conducted which evaluated the efficiency of capturing oyster spats in artificial collectors (experiment II); the growth and the survival of the oyster Crassostrea gasar, exposed to different salinity levels (experiment I) and submitted to different cultivation systems (experiment III). The most important results in this study demonstrate that the C. gasar species is resistant to a wide range of salinity, and can be cultivated in marine regions with salinity from 30-35, and in estuaries in which the salinity is not equal to or lower than 5. It was found that the spat capture of the oysters was significantly influenced by the type of collector, location and period of collection (P<0.05, MANOVA). The spat collection was significantly higher in the PVC collector and at point II (mangue) (P<0.05, Tukey). The spat capture took place during the whole year, and the dry period (with less rainfall and higher salinity) was more propitious to spat collection, while the rainy period (with lower salinity) had higher growth of the individuals. The growth of the C. gasar oysters was significantly higher in the longline cultivation system (P<0.05, Student t test). Nevertheless, no significant difference was found in survival between the cultivation systems tested (P>0.05 Student t test). The months with greater rainfall, concentration of particulate inorganic matter, food availability (particulate organic material and chlorophyl a) and with lower salinity and temperature had better oyster growth. On the other hand, there was a greater agglomeration of organisms undesirable to cultivation at this time, which were associated to the lower survival rate registered in this period.