Abstract: To investigate the salinity tolerance and respiratory metabolism of Palaemonetes sinensis, we examined the effects of salinity (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30) on survival, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), ammonia excretion rate (AER), and asphyxiation point (AP) ofP. sinensis which were exposed for 0 or 3 days in laboratory. The results showed that P. sinensis had strong salinity tolerance. The semilethal salinities were 37.07, 35.86, 35.04 and 34.31 at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h respectively, with a safe salinity concentration of 10.07. Salinity had significant effects on OCR, AER, AP and O/N ratio for P. sinensis (P<0.05). For the 0 dayexposure group, the OCR was lowest at salinity of 5 and highest at salinity of 10 when the salinity ranged from 0 to 30. For the 3 dayexposure group, the lowest OCR was at the salinity of 10, 25 and 30 while the highest OCR was salinity of 0. For the 0dayexposure group, the lowest AER was at salinity of 30, and the highest was at salinity of 10 and 15. For the 3 day exposure group, the lowest AER was at salinity of 25 and 30, and the highest was at salinity of 10. There was no significant difference of AP between 0 day exposure and 3 dayexposure groups. The lowest O/N ratio was at salinity of 5 for the 0dayexposure group and was at salinity of 10 for the 3dayexposure group, while the O/N ratio was highest at salinity of 30 for both groups. The OCR in the 3dayexposure group was lower than that in the 0dayexposure group at salinity of 10, 15 and 25. The AER in the 3dayexposure group was lower than that in the 0dayexposure group at salinity of 25. The O/N ratio in the 3dayexposure group was significantly lower than that of the 0dayexposure group at salinity 30. Overall, P. sinensis had a high tolerance to salinity and could be cultured in water with a certain salinity. However, different salinities and treatment methods may change its respiratory metabolism and energy utilization.

Key words: soil water storage, winter wheat yield, plastic film mulching, maize straw, water use efficiency, strip covering