Aquaculture contributes to poverty alleviation as it provides employment to millions of people, both in the sector itself as well as in support services. Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Farming implies some form of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production such as regular stocking, feeding and protection from predators etc. Rural aquaculture as a weapon to fight poverty and reduce inequality has received renewed attention in recent years. It depends largely on natural food,which is increased over baseline levels by fertilization and/or use of supplementary feed to complement natural food. Supplementary feed with traditional fish feed material such as groundnut cake, mustard oil cake and rice bran in dough form would enhance fish yield substantially.
Rural Aquaculture
Rural aquaculture pertains to the farming of aquatic organisms by small-scale farming house hold or communities, usually by extensive or semi-intensive low-cost production technology appropriate to their resource base. In rural aquaculture there is low level of fish production for household use and family income (Choudhury,1997). It’s production and income potential has largely remained undocumented.The resource-poor base of most farms requires off-farm agro industries inputs to intensify production. This implies use of mainly inorganic fertilizers rather than formulated feed to provide low market value produce affordable to poor consumers. Aquaculture growth can be accelerated in 2 ways - by increasing the area devoted to aquaculture and by intensifying production in existing aquaculture areas. Horizontal expansion of agricultural land is limited. In contrast there is considerable potential to increase area under aquaculture. Vast areas remain to be utilized for aquaculture. Aquaculture may use swamps, saline soils, mangroves that are otherwise, unsuitable for agriculture. It may also use inland aquatic resources such as natural and man made lakes, reservoirs, rivers etc. (Choudhury, 1997).
Researchersin India and elsewhere have demonstrated the impact of rural aquaculture on thelives of poor. In terms of providing nutritious food (fish being the cheapestanimal protein) and creating employment opportunities aquaculture interventionshave proved to be quite useful. It is important that untapped water resourceslying in rural areas are brought under scientific fish farming. Promotion of ruralaquaculture is often plagued by several hindrances, important among these are -non-availability of seed, lack of skill, multiple use of waterbodies, marketingrelated problem etc. It is essential that farmers are provided with easy accessto inputs, skill training and marketing arrangement. This would enable thefarmers to make use of the water resources towards ensuring their nutritionalas well as livelihood security.
CIFA’sinvolvement in promoting rural aquaculture
The Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar a constituent ofIndian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been actively engaged in promoting scientific aquaculture in thecountry since its inception. The CIFA erstwhile Freshwater Aquaculture Researchand Training Centre as an unit of Barrackpore based Central Inland FisheriesResearch Institute was devoted to imparting training in various aspects of freshwater aquaculture. Besidesconducting refresher courses for state line department officials the Institute impartedneed based skill training to farmers and entrepreneurs. The Institute hasconducted 406 training programmes till 2006-07 and a total of 7359 persons arebenefited. The Institute also operated several funded projects in differentparts of the country towards dissemination of aquaculture technologies. Aglimpse of recently operated projects is presented below-
Higher survival of L. fimbriatus during high-density larval rearing was positively correlated with inputs, such as fertilizer, supplementary feed and fertilizer. Based on weight gain, specific growth rate and feed conversion ratio, better growth performances of L. fimbriatus larvae were found in 30% protein with 8% lipid and 35% protein with 6% lipid fed groups.
The study on ES cell proliferation and its in vitro maintenance could prove useful for different purposes like site directed mutagenesis and production of germ line chimeras. Similarlty, the study on ES cell cryopreservation and subsequent retention of stem cell properties without feeder cells using a non-toxic cryoprotectant trehalose would be useful for in vitro differentiation, manipulation of fish ES cells and as a model for mammalian ES cell culture.
Results of nutrient budget analysis indicated that 33% of the nitrogen composition, 26% of phosphorus and 13% of carbon of feed were converted into fish and prawn. Further, nutrient accumulation increased in both the culture water and bottom sediment with the increase in stocking density.
Increase of area of cage culture compared to last year did not influence water and soil qualities. Degree of accumulation of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus of soil near cage area were at non toxic levels, thereby suggesting the possibility of further increase of cage area.
Analysis of pond water budget indicated that about 3 times higher than initial volumes of water were required to be added to maintain the constant depth of 1.0 m of during the year.
Possibility of early breeding of Anabas testudineus with proper brood stock management was confirmed. A total of 50,000 seeds were produced during the year under report. A characteristic feature was differential growth rate of fry under all circumstances, resulting in shoot fry , growing much faster than the others.
About 20-30% of brood stocks of Channa striatus responded positively in simulated natural environmental conditions and released eggs.Fry rearing study revealed that at larger size lower stocking densities are better to avoid possible competition for food and space. Stoppage of live feed (copepod) supply and feeding with properly boiled and minced poultry offal considerably reduced mortality among C. striatus fingerlings due to infection by Acanthocephalan.
Molecular study on pearl protein nacrein has been initiated with a view to elaaborately analyzing cDNA sequences of Lamelliden marginalis.
Feasibility of rearing P. sarana fry using soyamilk and egg custard combination diet as supplementary feed was shown. Production increased with increasing density up to 20,000/ha.
The motor-driven mechanical fish-netting device designed, developed and installed at Institute farm complex has several operational and labour-related advantages over traditional methods.
An extended fry rearing resulted in better survival of fingerlings of Pangasius pangasius and Horabagrus brachysoma.
Culture of R. corsula with carps (L. rohita, C. catla & C. mrigala) and freshwater prawn M. malcolmsonii indicated the feasibility of their polyculture.
Different Puntius species like Filament, Denisonii, ticto, sophore, tigerbarb, melonbarb showed compatibility when maintained together under aquarium conditions.
During diallel crossings from sexually mature males and females of Orissa, Gujarat and Kerala stocks of M. rosenbergii, specific growth rate of a cross between Orissa male and Gujarat female (OXG) was found significantly different (p<0.05) from that of pure cross of Orissa (OXO) and a cross between Orissa male and Kerala female (OXK).
After implementation of a developmental project in Keonjhar of Kendrapara Districts of Orissa, comprising 164 beneficiaries (114 ST and 50 SC fish farmers including three women self-help group) the average production levels increased to 3.99 and 1.38 times in Keonjhar and Kendrapara with a net economic gain of 3.85 and 1.33 times respectively.
Under the dissemination of Jayanti rohu program, against the target of 50 lakhs, 115 lakhs improved rohu spawn were distributed to local fish farmers from self help groups, private fish farmers of Orissa. Dissemination program of improved rohu was also initiated in UP (Mau) with very encouraging feed back from the farmers.
Study on linkage relationship among the total number of available rohu microsatellite markers using the hybrid mapping population showed 3 linkage groups so far.
DNA barcodes (COI gene fragments) of rohu catla, mrigal and kalbasu were PCR amplified, sequenced and deposited in the GenBank.
Preliminary results of a study initiated to develop transgenic ornamental fish indicate that it will be possible to identify the required promoters for the purpose of strong expression of fluorescence color protein genes.
Phylogenetic comparison of the amino acid sequences of delta 6/5 desaturases from different species with rohu desaturase indicated the similarity with other carp species i.e. D. rerio and C. carpio.
Genetically improved rohu spawn fed with fishmeal based feed showed maximum average weight gain, while probiotic-included feed induced maximum growth and survival in the fry. Diet based on 25% protein gave better growth under pond conditions.
Formulated feed containing 34-35% crude protein gave better growth and survival in the young stages of Ompak pabada.
Silkworm pupae meal was found to be the most suitable animal protein source in the feed of L. fimbriatus fingerlings.
Rohu GtH I beta was found phylogenetically closer to that of goldfish and common carp, whereas its GtH II beta was nearer to all the carp species, particularly, the Chinese carps.
Expression of GtH sub-units in rohu is different from those reported in salmonids species and certain cyprinids.
For the first time, off-season breeding has been achieved in an Indian major carp, Cirrihinus mrigala in CIFA, Bhubaneswar during February by manipulation of photoperiod and temperature. Moreover the off-season breeding has been demonstrated repeatedly in rohu and catla for consecutive two years.
Analysis of haematological and immunological parameters in Puntius sarana indicated that an array of these factors are responsible for rendering protection to Aeromonas hydrophilia infection in the species.
In Labeo rohita, Toll-like receptor (TLR)-3 has been identified by RT-PCR. In vivo stimulation with TLR-3 ligand in rohu showed that TLR-3 is highly activated in gill / kidney, and opens up the possibility to induce innate immunity through TLR-signaling network in IMC.
Based on biochemical differentiation and comparison with ATCC stains, 14 strains of A. hydrophila were identified and further confirmed with designed Aeromonas specific primers.
Out of 189 serum samples of koi, collected from different farms and traders of India situated at Kolkata, Chennai, Lucknow, and Bhubaneswar, 46 were found to be positive for anti-KHV (cyprinid herpes virus III) antibodies.
The sensitivity of amoebocytes lysate of Tachypleus gigas to detect endotoxin in CSF from patients with bacterial meningitis is encouraging to be recommended in clinical laboratory diagnosis.
Snails (Family: Viviparidae) were found to be potential biological substratum for laying of Argulus eggs in the infected ponds and possibly they act as modes of biological transmission between ponds and distant localities.
A feed back study undertaken among the in-service trainees who attended training programme at CIFA during the last three years indicated high level of satisfaction. However, some of them faced difficulty in utilizing the new skill owing to lack of infrastructure, lack of administrative support, lack of motivation and lack of fund.
An attempt to evaluate the various forms of the technology and its performance over a period of time revealed that the performance of the technology was dependent on the level and depth of its adoption.
Socio-economic constraints like poaching, flood, water pollution, disease, lack of manpower to harvest and low dissolved oxygen were identified as the major bottlenecks in aquaculture production.
It may be suggested that scampi culture can be made more popular among the farmers through intensive training and infrastructural support.
The structure, performance and constraints analysis indicated a high level of market integration and the price variations were less. Development of the infrastructure facilities and communication network is crucial for the development of freshwater fish marketing system in India.
The AICRP on APA in collaboration with the Catfish Breeding and Culture Unit of this institute has redesigned and developed the FRP Magur Hatchery with operational capacity of 50,000 seed per operation. The hatchery was commercialized and the technology was released in 2008.
About 70,000 fingerlings of Ompak pabda were produced at Kalyani station and could be considered as a significant mile stone in pabda seed production.
For controlling the growth of aquatic weeds urea + bleaching combination at the ratio of 3:2 exhibited the higher efficiency than other chemical combinations.
Duckweed Wolffia arrhiza, containing CP % was found to be a good feed to rohu Preliminary observations using truss network analysis suggest that P. pulchellus males have a greater depth in a truss network triangle of 3 points in the anal region compared to females.
The KVK organized a total of 1145 vocational training programmes for the farmers, rural youths and in-service personnel in different disciplines and carried out several extension activities.
Walk in Interview for Senior Research Fellow
Walk in Interview