Evaluation of growth and production performance of hatchery produced silver pompano Trachinotus blochii (Lacépède, 1801) fingerlings under brackishwater pond farming in India

Abstract

Growth, survival and production performance of hatchery produced silver pompano, Trachinotus blochii, (Lacépède, 1801) fingerlings were evaluated in a brackishwater pond in Anthervedi, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India. A total of 3,400 fingerlings of silver pompano (30.59 ± 0.24 mm mean length and 2.00 ± 0.04 g mean weight) were stocked in a one acre pond (0.4047 ha) with salinity of 8 ± 1.2 ppt. The salinity gradually increased to 24 ± 1.8 %0 during the farming period due to high saline intake water. Fishes were fed with extruded floating pellet feed containing 50 to 30% crude protein and 10 to 6% crude fat. After 240 days of culture, 1,305 kg of silver pompano were harvested. The survival rate was 91.32%. Mean length of the harvested fishes was 296.88 ± 6.27 mm and mean body weight 464.65 ±10.25 g. The absolute and specific growth rate obtained were 1.93 g day-1 and 2.27% per day respectively with an FCR of 1:1.83. The results revealed that farming of T. blochii in brackishwater pond is technically feasible.