Feed is an important input that involves nearly 60% of the total production cost in commercial aquaculture. Hence, nutritionally balanced and cost-effective diets play a large role in deciding the return from an aquaculture venture. Nutritionists are searching for alternative ingredients and approaches to offset the use of fishmeal in aquaculture feeds. This article discusses strategies to reduce feed cost by promoting gut health and nutrient utlilisation, including: Use of probiotics and prebiotics, supplementation with exogenous enzymes, essential nutrients and chemoattractants, and use of other feed additives such as acidifiers to improve digestibility and mycotoxin binders.
Clarias magur, locally known as magur, is a well-preferred medium sized catfish among Indian consumers. Difficulties such as shortages of effective inducing agents and the erratic response to induced breeding, low survival in different life stages, slow growth, and lack of effective feeds have been a bottleneck for the wider adoption of this fish by farmers. There has been considerable research to simplify the technology and disseminate it among farmers over the last decade. This article summarises these attempts and describes the present level of its technology practiced in India.
The Shrimp Farming BD App contains information on improved technologies - from pond preparation through to harvest - and has a calculator that farmers can use to work out the quantities of chemicals, feeds and other inputs they need for their pond. Also incorporated is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page where users can find answers to common questions with a single click: and they can send specific technical questions to SAFETI specialists online and receive an answer back within hours. The app can also be used to post news messages, and a link to market prices is planned.
Commercial trout farming in Uttarakhand has advanced progressively during the last decade and has become a profitable occupation among the rural masses especially in the colder regimes where no other fish farming has possibilities. The rainbow trout here plays the most dominant role as a commercially important candidate species for culture in this hill locked Himalayan state of India. This article describes the current status of trout fisheries resources and trout aquaculture in Uttarakhand, and their potential further development.
In this issue:
Registrations open for the Global Conference on Aquaculture Millennium +20; Presentation of the State of World Aquaculture and the Regional Aquaculture Reviews 2020; Webinar: International Forum of Aquaculture in Silk Road Countries; Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report, April-June 2020; World Fisheries Day Lecture Series, 20 December: Biosecurity - the concept to guarantee sustainable development of aquaculture; Webinar: Beauty and the Beast: Important Parasites of Fish; Second Online Training on Mariculture Technology for the Asia-Pacific Region: Aquaculture Biosecurity.