Halophila ovalis plants’ responses under laboratory condition Saad Khairul Anuar Mohd1, Bujang Japar Sidik1,*, Zakaria@Ya Muta Harah2, Arshad Aziz2, Ramaiya Shiamala Devi1 1Department of Animal Science and Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu Sarawak Campus, 97008, Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia 2Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Darul Ehsan, Malaysia *Corresponding Author, Email: japar@upm.edu.my
Online published on 25 August, 2014. Abstract This study gave information on culturing of Halophila ovalis in laboratory. Halophila ovalis plants were collected from seagrass meadow of Punang Sari (04° 57.195’N and 115° 24.394’E) at Lawas, Sarawak, Malaysia and cultured under laboratory conditions using a 120 x 45 x 45 cm glass tank filled with 30 psu artificial seawater prepared from Ocean Pure synthetic sea salt and sandy beach sediment as a substrate. Halophila ovalis plant grew well, producing leaves variable in shape, size and colour in response to the created environment. Halophila ovalis plant produced oval, ovate to elongate leaves and these were associated with the plants distribution in the glass tank. Plants with oval leaves were located adjacent to the wall of glass tank while plants with elongated leaves occurred at the middle of glass tank. Observed variations in leaf shape and size were responses to the availability of light in the glass tank. Most H. ovalis plants possessed bright-green coloured leaves and plants also have leaves with purplish blotches. Under the culture system, H. ovalis plants could be sustainably grown with the replacement of 25% of the artificial seawater every six months. Top Keywords Halophila ovalis, Seagrass, Morphological variability, Laboratory condition, Culture. Top |