Growth and yield performance of a sustainable aquaculture of cuchia, Monopterus cuchia (Hamilton, 1822) under different type of feeds in Bangladesh

Abstract

An experiment was undertaken to assess the growth performance, yield and survival rate of cuchia, Monopterus cuchia in grow out culture in earthen ponds in relation to three different types of feed (Live feed, T1; Boiled fish muscle and live feed, T2; and Supplementary feed, T3) for a rearing period of 180 days from February 2020 to July 2020 at Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), Riverine Sub-Station, Khepupara, Patuakhali, Bangladesh. The experiment was designed with three different type of feeds viz. small live fish as T1, live fish with boiled fish muscle as T2 and treatment T3 with supplementary feed i.e., fish paste (50%), fish meal (40%), rice bran(5%), wheat flour (5%) respectively. Same age with a mean length and weight of 39.29±4.84 cm and 89.12±16.36 g of hatchlings of cuchia collected from the Upazilla of Amtoli under Barguan district, Bangladesh were stocked on February 2020 with a stocking density of 10 fingerlings/m2. Feeding rations were applied twice daily up to satiation level following the experimental design using feeding tray to check waste of feed. Basic water quality variables and growth performance of cuchia were checked fortnightly. It was observed that T2 gave the highest weight gain (232.21±7.11 g) followed by T1 (208.71±8.98 g) and T3 (205.71±8.03 g). The highest specific growth and survival rate were recorded 0.73±0.01% and 94.25±1.12% respectively in the treatment T2. Significant differences (P< 0.05) were recorded among the three treatments. The highest total production (91.97±5.04 kg/decimal) was found in T2 compared to T1 (78.67±6.91 kg/decimal) and T3 (76.56±3.82 kg/decimal). The present findings indicates that mixture of live fish and boiled fish muscle could be supplied as feed for grow out culture of M. cuchia in earthen ponds.