Seasonal effects of the seeding on the growth of Chilean mussel (Mytilus edulis platensis, d'Orbigny 1846) cultivated in central Chile

This study presents a background on growing Mytilus edulis platensis, which were seeded on both summer and winter seasons. Surface longline systems were installed at a lower latitude zone than mussel aquaculture industries along Llico bay, VIII region (Biobío) of Chile. Mussel seeds were transferred from X region (Los Lagos) the traditional region for culture mussels. The first seeding was carried out in February (summer) and the second in July 2009 (winter). In the culture period, shell length, total weight and weight of fresh meat were measured. During the study, seeded mollusks in summer and winter seasons grew 3.03 and 4.37 mm month− 1, on average, respectively. It was observed that for the same asymptotic length (L∞ = 79.1 mm), the value of the metabolic constant was higher in winter (kLi = 0.1995) than in summer (kLv = 0.1492), and for the same asymptotic weight (W∞ = 40.79 g), the k value was higher in winter than in summer (kwi = 0.1643 and kwv = 0.1392, respectively). Cultivation time and seeding season have a significant effect on growth in both length and total weight (p < 0.001). At the end of the experiment, both groups presented no significant differences according to mean comparisons (p > 0.05). It can be concluded that seeding in winter has a positive effect on growth, decreasing the cultivation time for a harvest size more than the commercial size in 3 months (shell length ≥ 50 mm).