Introduction
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Integrating fish culture with other farming practices like cattle farming, pig farming, goat farming and duck farming helps in effective recycling of the animal wastes for fish culture. Animal wastes not only acts directly as a feed for fishes, but also as fertilizers for the pond as they are rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. This results in sufficient growth of live food for fishes viz.,phytoplankton and zooplankton. The chemical composition of the wastes from various animals which can be integrated with fish farming are shown below:
Chemical composition of excreta of different farm animals (%)
|
Wastes
|
Dry matter
|
Ether extract
|
Crude protein
|
Crude fibre
|
Ash
|
Volatile organic matter
|
|
Cow dung
|
17.58
|
2.42
|
9.18
|
21.04
|
15.80
|
84.20
|
|
Sheep droppings
|
31.45
|
3.00
|
12.07
|
12.97
|
19.18
|
80.82
|
|
Goat droppings
|
31.90
|
3.24
|
12.45
|
13.20
|
18.73
|
81.27
|
|
Piggery waste
|
45.33
|
4.47
|
19.40
|
20.93
|
28.02
|
71.98
|
|
Poultry droppings
|
47.16
|
1.54
|
26.90
|
19.90
|
34.08
|
64.50
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Source: Sharma, Paul and Zariwala (1980). In :FAO publication
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Manure derived from individual confined livestock species (annually) can support the following annual production range of fish biomass (Muller, 1980). The conversion ratio of manure to fish biomass is related to numerous factors, particularly the fish species, climatic conditions and pond water management.
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Manure from
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Average fish biomass production (kg/year )
|
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One dairy cow
|
100
|
200
|
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One beef cattle
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90
|
160
|
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One sheep
|
10
|
17
|
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One laying hen
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6
|
8
|
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One broiler
|
3
|
4
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Source : (Muller, 1980). In:FAO publication
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Last modified: Friday, 16 September 2011, 5:31 AM
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