Proven technology.2.Technology of Cultured Pearl Production

Abstract

The Indian pearl oyster Pinctada fucata can be used for producing cultured pearls of good quality, by artificially inducing the oyster to secrete mother- of -pearl around an implanted spherical core material produced from shells. Pearl culture is an industrial scale operation.The estimated production in a five-year project employing a total of 2 million oysters would be around 1.2 million cultured pearls of Grades A and B. The approximate cost of production is Rs.4.20 per cultured pearl. Due to uncertainity in population of pearl oysters a pearl culture industry in India will have to depend largely on pearl oyster seed produced in hatcheries. Broodstocks are artificially spawned in the hatchery and the larvae are reared in tanks. These young pearl oysters may be supplied to pearl production farms.The production in hatchery is described. A hatchery with about 50 larval rearing tanks can yield a production of about 500,000 spat per spawning. The approximate production cost is Rs 0.22 per spat. The hatchery can work either as a composite unit of pearl culture or as an independent unit supplying spat, depending on the growth of the industry.