Galaxea, Journal of Coral Reef Studies (Special Issue): 123-132（2013）

nd
Proc 2 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

E-mail: sntanduyan@yahoo.com

Abstract Caulerpa lentillifera has been reared tradi­
tionally cultured in bottoms of fishponds and was first
reared in Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines. Conversion of
mangroves into ponds has been banned in the Philippines
and the off bottom culture of this alga was studied in order
to find its growth in an open and natural body of waters
cultured at three different water levels and culture sites.
This study used the Randomized Complete Block Design
(RCBD) with four culture media as treatment. Treatment
1, use plastic screen cage; Treatment 2, tubular plastic
screen; Treatment 3 nylon screen cage and Treatment 4
tubular nylon screen. The culture media were placed in
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
months taking wet weight of the plant as factor. Results
showed that as to the efficiency of each culture medium
based on the water level it was found out that on the
surface level the C. lentillifera placed in plastic screen
cage has the highest growth rate in Site 1 (muddy site) and
tubular nets ranked first in site 2 (rocky) and site 3 (sandy).
For the middle layer based on the mean weight of the
plant showed that tubular nets has the highest in site 1
(muddy) and plastic screen cage got the highest in site 2
(rocky) and 3 (sandy). For the bottom layer the tubular
plastic screen dominates the highest growth rate of all the
culture media used from site 1, 2 and 3. Middle layer is
the best layer for the off- bottom culture of lato using the
plastic screen cage based on the highest mean growth of
the plant. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed that
there is no significant difference on the growth rate of
Caulerpa lentillifera placed in plastic screen cage, tubular
nets with the different water levels in the three culture
sites.
Keywords Caulerpa lentillifera, Off bottom culture,
Water levels and San Francisco, Cebu Philippines.
Introduction
Seaweed farming is one of the top fishery export com­
modities of the Philippines. This industry is gaining im­
portance in the export market. They have been used as
food, medicine, soil conditioner, and source of salt. As
food, seaweeds are made into salads, boiled as vegetables,
mixed with various species, pickled, cooked with coconut
milk and many more.
Caulerpa locally known as lato in Visayan is a green
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
the water is clear and with slow current. The thallus is
greenish and sometimes brownish depending on the qual­
ity of water and soil.
There are various species of Caulerpa found in the
Philippine waters. Of this, Caulerpa lentillefera is the
species best adopted for pond culture although certain
varieties of C. racemosa maybe utilized as well (Trono et
al. 1985).
In the Visayas, like in Calawisan, Lapu lapu City, pond
production of this alga has been successfully cultured in
commercial quantity for local and international markets
(Romano, 1999).
In the Philippines conversion of mangrove areas into
fishponds was totally banned because of its degradation
due massive conversion of the mangrove areas in the fast
two decades in to fishponds. That is why there is less pro­
duction of C. lentillefera cultured in fish ponds.
It is on this regard that the cultivation of this species of
alga was tried in the open sea to determine whether this
will favorably grow in this type of habitat. Hence, off
bottom culture of this alga was studied in order to find its
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
other interested person who wanted to engage in the
cultivation of this particular commodity.
Objectives of the study
1. To determine the efficiency on the different culture
media on the growth rate of Caulerpa lentillifera at dif­
ferent culture sites and water levels:
a. Plastic Screen Cage
b. Tubular Plastic Screen
c. Nylon Screen Cage
d. Tubular Nylon Screen
2. To find out the growth rate of Caulerpa lentillifera in
terms of weight at different water levels:
a. Surface
b. Middle
c. Bottom
3. To find out the growth rate of Caulerpa lentillifera in
terms of weight reared at different culture sites:
a. Muddy
b. Sandy
c. Rocky
Nature and Importance of the Study
Camotes Islands is noted of its Camotes Sea which is
considered as one of the fishery grounds of the Philippines
It is abundant of marine flora and fauna and presently
fishermen have felt the declined catch.
Caulerpa species are gathered in some parts of the
Islands which evidenced the presence of the plant in the
wild. These have been totally harvested by the gleaners
and eventually it disappeared.
Due to the declining condition on the supply of the
marine products including Caulerpa and other edible sea
weeds, this study on the off bottom culture of C. lentillifera
was made in order to provide food and livelihood to the
farmers and fishermen because the farming venture re­
quire less capital and technology to be adopted by the
interested farmers. This may also contribute to the real­
ization of the food sufficiency program of our government.
Materials and methods
Study site
The study site is the marine waters of Northern
Poblacion, San Francisco, Cebu specifically the coastline
of CSCST- Fishery and Industrial College (Fig. 2).
Camotes Island is composed of three islands namely:
Pacijan, Poro and Ponson. They are found off the north
eastern coast of the island of Cebu and lies 10˚37′ to
10º43′10″ north and 124º24′40″ to 124º29′4″ East. The
western most Island of Pacijan is entirely within the po­
litical jurisdictions of the municipality of San Fran­cis­co
while the eastern most and smallest island of Ponson
belongs to the municipality of Pilar. The island Poro is
split between the municipalities of Poro and Tudela. The
islands belong to the Province of Cebu.
Three specific sites were considered as experimental
sites where the rafts were placed: the sandy, rocky and
muddy site.
Experimental site number 1 is the sandy site (Fig. 3)
 Tanduyan et al.: Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera
has bottom ranging from pure sand with mixture of small
amount of mud. Site two is rocky site (Fig. 4) where rocks
and boulders dominate the bottom. Site three is the muddy
site (Fig. 5) where the bottom is muddy and has loose
bottom with some sea grasses growing on it.
Experimental Raft
A three layered bamboo raft was used in the study (Fig.
6), The height of each raft was 4 meters and the width is 3
meters such that each layer which resembles the surface,
middle layer and bottom is one meter from each other and
one half meter is provided from the surface and from the
bottom to give an allowance that the plants are not exposed
to direct sunlight in the case of the surface layer and it will
not sag into the bottom in the case of the bottom layer.
Experimental Cage
There were two kinds of nets being used in the study;
the plastic screen and the nylon screen net. They are used
to cover the four types of the culture methods being used;
the plastic screen cage, the nylon screen cage, the tubular
plastic screen and the tubular nylon screen (Figs. 7-10).
The cages have the size of one square foot and the
tubular nets are one meter long and having a diameter of 1
foot. They are alternately placed in each layer of the raft
resembling the surface, middle and the bottom. They are
set in three different sites; the muddy, rocky and sandy
bottoms.
Methods
Experimental Design
This study used the Randomized Block Design (RCBD)
with four culture media as treatments. Treatment 1 used
the plastic screen cage (Fig. 8); Treatment 2, tubular
plastic screen (Fig. 9); Treatment 3 nylon screen cage
(Fig. 7) and Treatment 4 tubular nylon screen (Fig. 10).
The different culture methods were placed in a bamboo
raft where this was divided into three layers representing
the surface, midlayer and the bottom layer and placed in
different sites which are muddy, rocky and sandy bottom.
Each culture method was planted with 250 grams lato
seedlings and was allowed to grow until 3 months.
125
The experimental plant
Caulerpa lentillifera (Fig. 11) however, has a thallus
consisting of horizontal branched stolon and erect
branches, the latter densely covered by many short ramuli
almost the entire length of their axes.; each ramulus has a
short stalk and a globose tip, 1-3 mm in diameter; distinct
constriction between the tip of the stalk and the base of the
globose tip is distinctive of these species. This kind of
alga commonly grows in shallow, sandy to muddy lagoon
and reef flats not exposed during low tides where the
water is generally calm. It may form extensive bed in
exceptionally good habitats. It is commercially farmed in
ponds and lagoons and is the most edible species of
Caulerpa. The alga is a stenohaline species and thrives in
areas where salinity of the water is below 25 parts per
thousand. Growth and natural stocks is thus seasonal in
habitats where water becomes brackish during rainy
seasons, or those cultured in ponds.
Source of Seedlings (Fig. 12)
The Caulerpa seedlings were taken from the ponds of
Carmen, Cebu City.
Sorting of Seedlings (Fig. 13)
Caulerpa seedlings were sorted by getting the dead
seedlings and other associated species attaching on it.
Only the healthy ones were used as experimental plant.
Amount and Placing of Seedlings in the Culture Media
and Sites
In every culture medium, a 250 grams of Caulerpa was
placed for cultivation then tied using a plastic straw and
placed in the culture media (nylon screen cage, tubular
nylon screen, plastic screen cage and tubular plastic
screen) after weighing and tying. Then it was placed in
every culture sites, the muddy, rocky and sandy sites.
Sampling of the plant (Figs. 18, 19)
Sampling was done every 15 days for 3 months where
each culture method was assigned as number and was
drawn by lot in each sampling period. Each method has an
equal chance to be included in the sampling in each
sampling day. This was based on the 45 days culture/
cropping period of the plant
126 Tanduyan et al.: Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera
A total harvest of the sampled plant was made by
getting its weight using a weighing scale. Then the sam­
pled plant is returned to the area where it was sampled.
Determination on the physic - chemical parameters of
sea water
A secchi disk was used to measure the transparency; pH
meter model (Milwaukee pH 600) was used to determine
hydrogen- ion concentration, Atago refractomoter for
measuring salt content and mercury thermometer for the
temperature.
Guarding the Project
The project was guarded all day through until the
duration of the project to control pouching.
Statistical Methods Used
This experimental study used the means and rank and
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) as statistical tools. In­
crement of growth of the plant was known by deducting
initial weight of the pant during planting from the present
weight of the plant during sampling period.
Results
Table 1 presented the growth rate of C. lentillefera in
plastic screen cage. It revealed that there is a difference in
growth of the plant in different sites and water level. It
further revealed that in the surface level the plant reaches
to 315.5 grams in muddy bottom. For the middle, the
highest rate is 663.3 grams and in the bottom it is only
381.7 grams. This accounts on the fact that sandy soil has
clear water which is evidenced by the fast moving current.
This presents further that highest growth rate occurred in
middle layer of water.
Table 2 shows the growth of Caulerpa lentillefera in
Table 1　Computed mean on the growth rate of Caulerpa lentillifera in plastic screen cage
tubular nylon screen. In the surface level the highest is
467.5 in sandy site. In the middle the highest is 516.7
grams in the rocky site and in the bottom it is 361.7 grams.
Similar to the Plastic screen cage the bottom got the
highest growth rate based on the water level.
Table 3 present the mean growth rate of Caulerpa
lentillefera in nylon screen cage. It shows that in the
surface level the highest is 340.8 grams in Rocky site and
in the middle is 353.3 grams in sandy site and on the
bottom it is 221.7 grams in sandy site.
Table 4 presents the growth rate of Caulerpa lentillifera
in tubular plastic screen cage. It reveals that in the surface
the highest growth rate is 220 grams in muddy site and in
the middle it is 477.2 grams at sandy site and in the bottom
it is 565 grams in rocky bottom.
Table 5 shows the mean growth of Caulerpa in four
different culture methods in surface layer and the site
where the rafts were placed. It was found out that site 1
(muddy bottom), plastic screen cage has the highest mean
rate, followed by the tubular nylon screen, nylon screen
cage and tubular plastic screen. In site 2 (rocky bottom)
the tubular nylon screen got the highest followed by the
nylon screen cage then the tubular plastic screen. In site 3
(sandy bottom) tubular nylon screen got the highest
followed by the nylon screen cage then the plastic screen
cage and tubular plastic screen.
Table 6 reveals the mean growth of C. lentillifera in
different culture methods and three different sites in
middle layer of water. It was found out that in site 1
(muddy bottom) tubular nylon screen got the highest
(417.3 g) followed by plastic screen cage (356.79 g) then
the tubular plastic screen cage (299.29 g) and nylon screen
cage (263.39). In site 2 (rocky bottom) plastic screen cage
got the highest (608.3 g) followed by the tubular nylon
screen (516.7 g) followed by tubular plastic screen
(381.7 g) and nylon screen cage (248.3 g). In site 3 (sandy
bottom) plastic screen cage got the highest (663.3)
 Tanduyan et al.: Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera 127

Table 2　Computed mean on the growth rate of C. lentillifera in tubular nylon screen cage

Table 3　Computed mean on the growth rate of C. lentillifera in nylon screen cage

Table 4　Computed mean on the growth rate of C. lentillifera in tubular plastic screen cage

Table 5　Comparative growth rate of C. lentillifera in different culture media at the surface layer

Table 6　Comparative growth rate of C. lentillifera in different culture media at the middle layer
128 Tanduyan et al.: Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera

Table 7　Comparative growth rate of C. lentillifera in different culture media at the bottom layer

Table 8　Highest growth rate of C. lentillifera at different culture media, site and layer of water

Table 9　Comparative analysis of the highest growth mean rate of Caulerpa reared in off bottom culture in San Francisco,
Cebu with Caulerpa grown in ponds of Carmen, Cebu and Kalawisan, Mactan, Island, Cebu

Table 10　Physico- chemical Parameters of seawater on the three experimental sites of Caulerpa lentillifera
 Tanduyan et al.: Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera 129

followed by the tubular plastic (477.2 g), tubular nylon showed that in muddy bottom, tubular plastic screen has
screen (456.2 g) and nylon screen (353.3 g). the highest (368.3 g) followed by plastic screen cage and
Table 7 presents the mean growth rate of C. lentillifera nylon screen cage then the last is tubular nylon screen. In
in the middle layer using four different culture methods. It site 2 (rocky bottom) tubular plastic screen got the highest
130 Tanduyan et al.: Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera
(565 g) followed by plastic screen (381.7 g) and the last is
the nylon screen cage (181.7 g). In site 3 (sandy bottom)
the tubular plastic screen got the highest (537.3 g)
followed by tubular nylon screen (324.5 g), plastic screen
cage 9307.5 g) and the last is nylon screen cage (221.7 g).
Table 9 compares the growth of the different culture
methods of Caulerpa cultured in different sites and water
levels with that of that growth in ponds based on the
interview of Mr. Mabini Berame and Mr. Ben Estillore,
Station Superintendent of Carmen-Lake Danao Research
Outreach Station based at Carmen, Cebu. It was found out
that the plastic screen cage has the highest mean growth
rate of 663.3 g in the middle layer in sandy bottom with an
increment of 413.3 g for three months with a percentage
increment of 165.32%. This was followed by tubular
nylon screen with an increment of 315 g and 126%. The
third is tubular nylon screen which has an increment of
266.76 with a percentage increment of 106.68 and the
lowest is nylon screen cage with an increment of 90.8 g
with 36.32% increment compared to the growth of lato in
Kalawisan and BFAR 7 pond in Carmen, Cebu which we
consider as the control, the increment is 1,125 g for 3 mos.
with a percentage increment of 450%. Based on the data
the increment in the off bottom culture of lato in the
present study (plastic screen cage) is only 1/3 from that of
ponds. However, per interview of Estellore and Berame in
45 days culture in the cultivation of lato in ponds, they
harvested it by pruning letting the remaining plant to
region wherein after 45 days of culture 1/2 of the original
weight will be harvested then after 18 days after the first
harvest, they will harvest 100% of the initial weight of the
plant until after the second harvest (18 days). Harvesting
is done weekly which harvest one 100% of the initial
weight of the plant. Whereas in our study we didn’t prune
the plant but we made the total harvest of the whole
sample. Then another sample will be harvested in the next
 Tanduyan et al.: Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera
sampling period by using random numbers. However,
without using the test of means, there were plants who
reached more than 1000 g. Like for instance in site 2
(Rocky bottom surface level) the tubular screen net
reaches 1,100 g in 3 months; 1,030 g in (sandy bottom
middle layer); plastic screen cage 1000 g for 2 months in
(middle layer sandy bottom); screen net cage 1100 g in 2
1/2 mos. (middle sandy bottom) and 1225 g for the tubular
screen net at the midlayer in sandy bottom. Another thing
is that Caulerpa in ponds has wider and bigger space not
compared to the cages and tubular nets where it has
smaller and shallower space.
Table 10 presents the physico- chemical parameters of
seawater. It shows that the three sites (muddy, rocky and
sandy) slightly differ in water depth during low tide and
high tide Sites 1 and 3 slightly vary in current velocity
while site 2 got the lowest velocity All other parameters
have slight differences on their values on water tem­
perature, transparency salinity and pH. It should be noted
that water transparency exceeds the water depth in each
site meaning light is able to penetrate the sea bottom
which allows the plant for photosynthetic process.
Discussions
Results showed that different culture methods have
different growth rates in different sites. Plastic screen
cage showed favourable growth in site 1 at the surface
layer then also in site 3 (rocky bottom) which is 608.3 g
and in site 3 (sandy bottom) which is 663.39 g. Tubular
nylon screen showed favourable growth in site 2 which
has 418.6 g and site 3 (sandy bottom) 467.5 g in surface
layer. Tubular plastic screen showed good growth also in
site 1 (muddy) 368.3 g; site 2 (rocky bottom) 565 g and
site 3 (sandy bottom) 537.3 g.
Out of the four culture methods Caulerpa lentillifera in
nylon screen cage didn’t show best growth over other
methods in different sites. This accounts on the fact that
the size of the cage is only 1 square foot and the mesh size
is very small where there is less water exchange inside the
cage and it is easily get fouled by dirts and epiphytes
where the tubular nylon screen nets have greater space
since it is 1 meter in length same with tubular plastic
131
screen where it is also 1 meter length and the mesh size is
3/4 inch. This also happens in plastic screen cage where it
offers favorable growth to C. lentillifera since it has also
bigger mesh size where water circulation is great although
it has similar area with nylon screen cage.
Based on the mean growth rate of C. lentillifera in
different water levels and sites, it was found out that
plastic screen cage has the highest growth rate over other
culture methods and sites. It grows best in middle layer in
site 3 (sandy bottom) which has a mean growth of 663.3 g
for 3 months then followed by tubular nylon screen in
surface layer. This accounts on the fact that middle layer
has the moderate physico- chemical conditions than the
rest of the layers (bottom and surface).
Although Caulerpa is an epibenthic plant which at­
taches to the mud substrates in ponds (Berame 2003,
Estellore 2006 personal com.) and (Romano, 1999) growth
has only reached 565 g in the bottom layer in rocky bottom
for 3 months compared in tubular plastic screen compared
to the middle layer in site 3 (sandy bottom) using plastic
screen cage which is 663.3 g.
Significantly, the results on the cultivation of the plant
in the open sea will provide additional livelihood options
for the fisherfolks to engage in Caulerpa farming since
this requires small capital investment compared to its
cultivation in fishponds. Training on site selection, proper
selection of seedlings, cage maintenance will be done as
part of the extension program of the university to help
solve the unemployment problem of the people. Produc­
tion of Caulerpa lentillefera in off bottom culture systems
will help provide food items to the people thereby helping
solve the food security problem of the country.
Morphology and General Conditions of the Cultured
Caulerpa
As observed the culture lato was almost similar to the
conditions when it was purchased as seedlings. The
seedlings were purchased from the Capin Lato Farm at
Cogon West, Carmen, Cebu where their seedlings was
bought from Carmen-Lake Danao Research Outreach
Station of BAR 7 situated at Carmen, Cebu. The only dif­
ference in the cultured lato is the increase of the size of
the grape-like structure in the tubular nylon screen method
in site 3 (sandy bottom) in the middle layer. All the rest
132 Tanduyan et al.: Off bottom culture of Caulerpa lentillifera
have similar morphology with the original seedlings.
Conclusions
That plastic screen cage is the best culture method
based on the highest mean growth rate among other
methods and that the middle layer is the best water level
to place the raft based on the mean weight of the plant.
The best site is sandy site based of the means, however
based on the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) there is no
significant difference on the culture methods, water level
and sites on the growth of Caulerpa lentillefera in off
bottom culture and longer culture period for off- bottom
Caulerpa lentillefera be done to determine its growth in
different seasons of the year.
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Authority
Ⓒ Japanese Coral Reef Society