Md. Selim Reza
Program Officer (Enterprise Development - Fisheries)
PKSF, Bangladesh & Department of Fisheries, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh
Md. Abdus Samad
Department of Fisheries, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh
Jannatul Ferdous
Institute of Marine Sciences and Fisheries, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh
Catfish; Feeding frequency; Growth; Pond aquaculture; Production
Department of Fisheries, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
Animal Health and Management
Experimental site and set up- The study was carried out at the nine experimental ponds in the Department of Fisheries, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh for a period of 180 days. Ponds (average size of 0.0024 ha) were divided into three treatments viz. T1, T2 and T3 each having three replicates for feeding fish once a day, twice a day and thrice a day respectively. Pond preparation and stocking of fingerling- The ponds were drained out completely and left exposed to sunlight for about 15 days. Seven days before stocking of fishes all ponds were treated with lime at the rate of 1 kg decimal–1. The fish fingerlings used in this study were collected from Marium Scientific Hatchery and Fisheries, Jamalpur, Bangladesh. Fingerlings range from initial mean length 5.21 ± 0.51 to 5.69 ± 0.50 cm and initial mean weight of 4.48 ± 0.02 to 4.56 ± 0.03 g were stocked at the density of 16750 fingerlings ha–1. The fish were initially fed at the rate of 8% of their body weight for first three months with 28% protein rich for- mulated feed and the rate was reduced to 5% gradually in last three months. Five available feed ingredients (fish meal 25%, rice bran 20%, wheat bran 20%, maize bran 15%, mustard oil cake 18% and vitamin and mineral 2%) were used to prepare formulated feed. Proximate com- position of feed was determined using standard method (AOAC 1995) before using the diet. The fish were fed thrice daily at 0800, 1230 and 1700 hours in T3. Whereas in case of T1 feed was supplied only once at 0800 hour and this was 0800 and 1700 hours for T2. Water quality parameter- Water samples from each pond were collected during 0900 – 1000 hours on fortnightly basis for analysis of common physico-chemical parameters including water temperature, water transparency, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, total alkalinity and ammonia-nitrogen. Secchi disc was used for the measurement of water transparency and water temperature was recorded by a Celsius thermome- ter (0°C to 120°C). The DO, pH, total alkalinity and ammo- nia-nitrogen of water were measured by using a HACH Kit (DR/2010 model, HACH, Loveland, CO, USA). Growth performance- The following parameters were used to evaluate the growth performance such as mean final weight, weight gain, mean final length, length gain, specific growth rate (SGR, % body weight per day, bwd–1), FCR, survival rate and production of fishes under different treatments: Mean weight gain (g) = Mean final weight – Mean initial weight Mean length gain (cm) = Mean final length – Mean initial length
SGR (%, bwd–1) = (Ln final weight – Ln initial weight) / Cul- ture period × 100 (Brown 1957; Ricker 1975)
Survival rate (%) = Number of fish harvested / Number of fish stocked × 100 (Brown 1957; De Silva 1989)
FCR= Feed fed (dry weight) / Live weight gain (Castell and Tiews 1980; Hepher 2009)
Production = Number of fish harvested × final weight. Data analysis-For the statistical analysis of data collected, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed in SPSS (Sta- tistical Package for Social Science, evaluation version- 15.0). Significance was assigned at the 0.05% level. The mean values were also compared to see the significant difference through DMRT (Duncan Multiple Range Test) after Zar (1984).
Journal of Fisheries, 9(1): 91201
Journal