Journal of Applied and Natural Science 11(1): 149-154 (2019) ISSN : 0974-9411 (Print), 2231-5209 (Online) journals.ansfoundation.org Seasonal changes in reproductive cycle of female fresh water prawn, Macrobrachium dayanum (Henderson) from river Gomti, Lucknow (India) Rashmi Tripathi Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali Vidyapith, Banasthali - 304022, (Rajasthan), India Sanjive Shukla Department of Zoology, BSNVPG College, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), India U. D Sharma* Retd Professor, Department of Zoology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), India *Corresponding author. E-mail: dr.u.d.sharma@gmail.com Abstract The present study was conducted on the experimental animals, Macrobrachium dayanum (Henderson) (Crustacea: Decapoda) to analyze the seasonal changes in reproductive cycle of female, found at different locations in river Gomti (26°55´; 80°59´ E), in and around Lucknow (U.P. India). The reproductive activities were found in cyclic manner in M.dayanum, which breeds continuously throughout the year but with two distinct peaks one major in the month of May-July and one minor in the month of January – Feburary. Five stages of Oogenesis i.e. proliferative, meiotic, previtellogenic, vitellogenic and re- sorbtion or atretic oocyte phase have been recorded in M. dayanum. Mature ova were noticed in two peaks i.e. major in month of July – August and September and minor in months of February and March. Histoarchitecture of hepatopancreas showed seasonal changes in accordance with the gonadal development. The reproductive cycle of M.dayanum is reported for the first time and very little work is known on the seasonal changes with respect to reproduction and its correlation with hepatopancreas. Keywords: Freshwater prawn, Hepatopancreas, M. dayanum, Ovary, Seasonal, Reproductive cycle Article Info DOI:10.31018/jans.v11i1.1966 Received: December 20, 2018 Revised: February 14, 2019 Accepted: February 22, 2019 How to Cite Tripathi, R. et al. (2019). Seasonal changes in reproductive cycle of fe- male fresh water prawn, Macrobrachium dayanum (Henderson) from river Gomti, Lucknow (India). Journal of Applied and Natural Science, 11(1): 149-154 INTRODUCTION The small fresh water prawn, Macrobrachium. dayanum (Henderson) belongs to family palae- monidae of Decapod – Crustaceans are of great commercial significance. This species occupy a significant place in U.P particularly in Lucknow, where it is easily available and consumed as food. This species is even included in the list of cultura- ble prawns of the world (Holthuis, 1980; Jaya- chandran, 1998; Jayachandran, 2001) and con- tributes to the livelihood of the downtrodden by way of food supply, employment and income gen- eration. The prawns contain a rich amount of proteins, free amino acids, and omega 3 fatty acids vitamin A and D etc, due to less fat in prawns it is advised to diabetic people. The nutritional constituent in prawns is considered to be highly beneficial to human health and has a protective role against many diseases. (Proudfit and Robinson, 1955; Martin, 1996; Singh, 1977; Khan et al., 1994; Sofia and Vassilia, 2012). Crustaceans constitute the group with free amino acids as the nitrogenous compounds in their muscles. These free amino acids results in the unique flavor and taste to crus- taceans (Turan et al., 2011; Karnjanapratum et al., 2013; Grienke et al., 2014; Bogard et al., 2015; Vazhiyil and Kumarapanicker, 2017). Prawns being very sensitive to pollutants are con- sidered as good bio-indicators. With the increas- ing demand of fresh water prawns, it becomes important to study their reproductive biology (Patwardhan, 1937; Jayachandran and Joseph, 1986; Elorza and Dupre, 2000; Jayachandran, 2001; Jayawardane et al., 2002; Peter et al., 2006 and Webb 2011). Aquaculture production de- creased because stock from the wild varies in quality and quantity of supply. The study of repro- ductive system becomes important to successfully culture and increase the production of prawns at industrial level (Olele et al., 2012).Considering the above facts, present work has been taken into account to study reproductive cycle of fresh water prawn, M. dayanum. MATERIALS AND METHODS The fresh water prawn, M. dayanum (Henderson) This work is licensed under Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). © 2018: Author (s). Publishing rights @ ANSF.