World Aquaculture Magazine - September 2021

54 SEP TEMBER 2021 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG and foodfish production phases (Kumar et al. 2019). Foodfish production has benefitted through production intensification and by allocating more of the freed-up fingerling ponds to profit- maximizing foodfish production strategies. As of 2020, 66 percent of fingerling acreage has adopted ESC vaccination as a disease mitigation strategy. Going Forward The change to intensively aerated small ponds and split ponds typically occurs when producers rebuild existing ponds due to erosion of pond banks. Producers typically schedule a percentage of ponds on the farm for renovation every year. We anticipate that older traditional ponds will be retrofitted to these two intensive systems at nearly the same rate in the coming years. New research in improved genetics of both hybrid and channel catfish lines, feed nutrition and nutrient uptake, new disease diagnostic tools and treatment strategies and denitrification dynamics in these systems have promise to make US catfish production even more efficient. Unlike other agricultural commodities, the overwhelming majority of research and development in aquaculture is done in the public sector (federal research facilities and state universities). It is important that these funding sources continue. There is a learning curve with the adoption of these intensive systemmodels and complementary technologies. Deterioration of water quality in intensive systems has occurred when producers push safe feeding limits, especially in intensively aerated ponds. Unlike split-pond systems, intensively aerated ponds lack the capability to process excessive nitrogenous waste. Producers who grow hybrids indicate the importance of learning how to feed them due to their more aggressive feeding behavior. Productivity will fluctuate as established adopters refine their techniques, new producers adopt these technologies, new complimentary technologies come online and supply and demand changes. Notes Jimmy Avery, Extension Professor, Mississippi State University – Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center, 127 Experiment Station Road, Stoneville, Mississippi 38776, jimmy. avery@msstate.edu (Corresponding author) Shraddha Hedge, Ph.D. candidate, Mississippi State University – Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, 127 Experiment Station Road, Stoneville, Mississippi 38776, sgh234@msstate.edu Ganesh Kumar, Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University – Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center, 127 Experiment Station Road, Stoneville, Mississippi 38776, gkk27@ msstate.edu References Engle, C., T. Hanson and G. Kumar. 2021. Economic history of U.S. catfish farming: Lessons for growth and development of aquaculture. Aquaculture Economics &Management. doi: 10.1080/13657305.2021.1896606 Hedge, S., G. Kumar, C.R. Engle, L. Roy, T. Hanson, J. van Senten and M. Cheatham. 2021. Adoption of productivity-enhancing technologies in the US catfish industry. Abstract – Aquaculture America, San Antonio Texas, August 11-15, 2021. Griffin, M. J., T.E. Greenway, T.S. Byars, Ware, C., S. Aarattuthodiyil, G. Kumar and D.J. Wise. 2020. Cross-protective potential of a live, attenuated Edwardsiella ictaluri vaccine against Edwardsiella piscicida in channel ( Ictalurus punctatus ) and channel x blue ( Ictalurus furcatus ) hybrid catfish. Journal of World Aquaculture Society, 51(3):740-749. Kumar, G. and C. Engle. 2017a. Economics of intensively aerated catfish ponds. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 48:320- 332. Kumar, G. and C. Engle. 2017b. Optimal investment pathways for split pond and intensively aerated catfish pond technologies. Aquaculture Economics &Management 21:144-162. Kumar, G., T.S. Byars, T.E. Greenway, S. Aarattuthodiyil, L.H. Khoo, M.J. Griffin and D.J. Wise. 2019. Economic assessment of commercial-scale Edwardsiella ictaluri vaccine trials in the U.S. catfish industry. Aquaculture Economics &Management, 23(3):254-275. Torrans, E.L. 2008. Production responses of channel catfish to minimum daily dissolved oxygen concentrations in earthen ponds. North American Journal of Aquaculture 70:371-381. Torrans, L., B. Ott, and B. Bosworth. 2015. Impact of minimum daily dissolved oxygen concentration on production performance of hybrid female channel catfish × male blue catfish. North American Journal of Aquaculture 77:485-490. Tucker, C.S., Brune, D. and E.L. Torrans. 2014. Partitioned pond aquaculture systems. World Aquaculture 45(2):9-17. USDA-NASS. 2019. 2018 Census of Aquaculture, Vol. 3, Part 2. United States Department of Agriculture - National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS). USDA-NASS. 2021. Catfish Production (July 2021). United States Department of Agriculture - National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS). There is a learning curve with the adoption of these intensive system models and complementary technologies. Deterioration of water quality in intensive systems has occurred when producers push safe feeding limits, especially in intensively aerated ponds. Unlike split-pond systems, intensively aerated ponds lack the capability to process excessive nitrogenous waste. Producers who grow hybrids indicate the importance of learning how to feed them due to their more aggressive feeding behavior. Productivity will fluctuate as established adopters refine their techniques, new producers adopt these technologies, new complimentary technologies come online and supply and demand changes.