54 June 2010 (Continued on page 72) Harvested fish stock. in Western Maharashtra have resulted in 8-22 t/ha of production. Thus, fish farming trials in such horticulture-based polythene-lined farm ponds shows an enormous potential to enhance fish production by upgrading the technology of fish culture, thereby improving the earning and total income of farmers, which will also provide a new area of employment generation for unemployed rural youth. Technology Non-standardization of farm practices and the materials (fish fingerlings and feed) to be used in the operation of plastic lined ponds still acts as a bottleneck for large-scale adoption of those culture systems. The ponds that store water to irrigate horticulture crops can be readily stocked with stunted carp fingerlings at 10,000-15,000 fingerlings/ha (around 2,500-3,000 stunted fingerlings for 0.2 ha), which shows a high potential area for fish culture. The Jayanti rohu variety of fish is the most suitable for culture in polythenelined ponds. Out of the total fish stock to be introduced, around 80 percent of fingerlings should be stunted Jayanti rohu and the remaining 20 percent should be catla. The average weight of the stunted fingerlings at the time of stocking should be around 15-20 grams. Another important aspect in terms of input is fish feed and its management. Feed has to be in the form of de-oiled rice bran, de-oiled groundnut oil cake and de-oiled cotton seed cake. Feed management should be conducted as shown in Table 2. Table 1. Districtwise Total Number of Farm Ponds Available in the state of Maharashtra (200708). Sr. No. Name of District No. of farm ponds 1. Thane 55 2. Raigad 36 3. Ratnagiri 33 4. Sindudurg 23 5. Nasik 146 6. Dhule 78 7. Nandurbar 20 8. Jalgaon 40 9. Ahmednagar 183 10. Pune 138 11. Solapur 55 12. Satara 150 13. Sangali 140 14. Kolhapur 118 15. Aurangabad 183 16. Jalana 193 17. Beed 110 18. Latur 57 19. Nanded 89 20. Parbhani 59 21. Akola 89 22. Washim 83 23. Buldhana 357 24. Yevatmal 77 25. Amravati 101 26. Wardha 103 27. Nagpur 22 28. Gondia 11 29. Chandrapur 6 30. Gadchiroli 5 Total 2,760 Table 2. Feeding rate in Polythene lined Farm Pond Sr. No. Duration of Culture Feeding rate Amount of Feed (After Stocking) (Avg. Body weight) Rice Bran Groundnut Oil Cake Cotton Seed Cake 1 0-2 Months 10 % 90% 10% - 2 2-4 Months 5% 90% 10% - 3 After 4 months 2 - 3% 90% - 10%
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjExNDY=