World Aquaculture Singapore 2022

November 29 - December 2, 2022

Singapore

PILOT SCALE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF Oreochromis niloticus IN IN-POND RACEWAYS SYSTEM IN PAKISTAN

R.S.N. Janjua1, Shafaq Fatima*2

1SoyPak, Pvt. Ltd.

2Department of Zoology, Lahore College For Women University, Lahore, Pakistan,

Email: janjua@soypak.org

 



A pilot scale commercial-scale, in-pond raceway system was constructed in 2019 on a commercial ?sh farm in Punjab, Pakistan. The in-pond raceway system was installed in a 8 acres earthen pond with an average depth of 2.25 m. It consists of three raceways, each with dimensions of 22 m (L) × 5 m (W)× 2.25 m (D). With an operating depth of 2 m, the volume of water enclosed is 220 m3. The total culture volume of the raceways for holding and growing fish is 660 m³, equivalent to 2.33 percent of the total surface area of the production pond. Raceways are equipped with five regenerative blowers of 1.6 kW horsepower each. Additionally, the pond has three whitewater units, a jet aerator and a paddlewheel aerator installed in the open water area, which helps in mixing, accelerating and circulating water around the pond. One raceway was originally stocked with 13,000 tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) ?ngerlings weighing between 30 – 32 g. During the 2019 production season, mean survival was 99.70 %. A total of 9,841 kg (1,405/acre) of tilapia were harvested from raceway. Growth rate and specific growth rate were 3.50 g/?sh/day and 0.65 % body weight/day, respectively. The average feed conversion ratio (FCR) for labeo was 1.03. An additional 3368 kg of catla and 4401 kg of silver carp were harvested from the pond as co-cultured species. The results indicated a high potential for ef?cient production of labeo with other co-cultured species in in-pond raceways system in Pakistan.