Multi-species farming of major and minor carps for enhancing fish production in freshwater aquaculture

Abstract

An year long experimental multi-species farming of Indian major carps (IMC) and minor carps was conducted with varied stocking densities in 15 earthen ponds (0.08 ha) to develop a suitable farming model. The IMC group included Catla catla, Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala at 35:40:25 ratio while minor carp and barb (MCB) group included Puntius gonionotus, Labeo fimbriatus and Puntius sarana at 40:35:25 ratio. Fingerlings were stocked in five density combinations (treatments) as: T1 - IMC at 8000 ha-1, T2 - IMC at 8000 ha-1 + MCB at 4000 ha-1, T3 - IMC at 4000 ha-1 + MCB at 4000 ha-1, T4 - IMC at 4000 ha-1 + MCB at 8000 ha-1 and T5 - MCB at 16000 ha-1. Survival of all species in both groups showed inverse relation with their stocked densities. T4 with IMC and MCB at 4,000 and 8,000 fingerlings ha-1, respectively, formed the ideal density with 28.8 and 76.0% higher yield realisation compared to T1 with only IMC and T5 with only MCB group, respectively. All multispecies treatments having MCB group as major component yielded higher fish biomass than those with IMC group. Such results indicated potential of multispecies farming system to increase production in seasonal ponds and water bodies retaining lower water level.