Growth performance of rohu, Labeo rohita (Ham.) in tanks provided with different levels of sugarcane bagasse as periphyton substrate

Abstract

Provision of biodegradable substrates in culture systems results in the production of biofilm/periphyton which serves as anadditional natural food source for cultured fish. The effect of sugarcane bagasse on water quality, growth performance andproduction of the Indian major carp, rohu (Labeo rohita) was investigated through a 180 days experiment, by providing it atlevels of 0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 t ha-1 and designating the treatments as T0, T1, T2, T3, T4 respectively. Dried cattle dung wasapplied initially to each tank @ 5.0 t ha-1, followed by fortnightly doses of 1.0 t ha-1. Bagasse did not adversely affect waterquality. Only minor differences in periphyton and plankton biomass were observed between treatments. Survival of fish didnot differ (p>0.05) among treatments. The substrate affected fish growth and production significantly (p<0.05) at all thedensities tested. Fish production of 3456 g per 25 m2 was obtained in the control (T0) without periphyton. In T1, T2, T3 andT4 treatments, yield increased by 68, 129, 123 and 119% respectively. The results demonstrated that sugarcane bagasse canbe applied in pond bottom as a substrate at a density of 2.0 t ha-1 for increasing the production of rohu.