Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

STANDARDIZATION OF STOCKING DENSITY FOR MAXIMUM BIOMASS PRODUCTION OF SPOTTED SNAKEHEAD CHANNA PUNCTATA (BLOCH, 1793) REARED IN CAGES

Surjya Narayan Datta, Asha Dhawan, Sachin Kumar, Vaneet Inder Kaur and Pranaya Parida

Abstract

Comparative study was conducted in fish cages to standardize the stocking density, for highest productivity of Channa punctata using non conventional chicken intestine (63.04% crude protein) in pelleted form as supplementary diet. Stocking density of C. punctata in cages was @ 5/m3 (C1), 6 /m3 (C2) and 7/m3 (C3). Maximum average weight gain was recorded in C1 with specific growth rate of 0.516 and maximum biomass was in C2 (12.8537% and 4.5826% more biomass produced as compared to C1 and C3, respectively). In different cages FCR recorded as C1 (2.506), C2 (2.673) and C3 (2.978), respectively. The experimental fish recorded the value of exponent ‘b’ in the range of 2.178 to 2.8046. The condition factor ‘K’ of all experimental fish was above 1.0 (1.276 - 1.486) indicating robustness or well being of experimented fish and species is suitable for culture in cages at higher density. The utilization of chicken slaughter house waste helps in waste utilization and waste disposal problem.