Feeding and feed management of Indian major …

1 FAO. ISSN 2070-7010. FISHERIES AND. AQUACULTURE. TECHNICAL. PAPER. 578. Feeding and feed management of Indian major carps in Andhra Pradesh, India Cover photographs: Left top to bottom: Industrially manufactured floating pelleted feeds are made ready for broadcast Feeding . A farmer tying the feed bags filled with mash feed to a rope, a method of Feeding known as rope-bag Feeding commonly practiced in Andhra Pradesh. Right top to bottom: Harvested fish are stacked near the pond side to be packed in plastic containers for distribution throughout the state and the country. Harvest of Indian major carps , Andhra Pradesh, India. All photographs are through the courtesy of FAO/R. Ramakrishna. Cover design: Mohammad R.

2 Hasan and Jose Luis Castilla Civit. Feeding and feed FAO. FISHERIES AND. AQUACULTURE. management of Indian major TECHNICAL. PAPER. carps in Andhra Pradesh, India 578. R. Ramakrishna Senior Scientist Fisheries Research Station Veterinary University, Undi Andhra Pradesh, India Thomas A. Shipton FAO Consultant Grahamstown, South Africa and Mohammad R. Hasan Aquaculture Officer Aquaculture Branch Fisheries and Aquaculture Department FAO, Rome Italy FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS. Rome, 2013. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

3 The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO. ISBN 978-92-5-107435-0 (print). E-ISBN 978-92-5-107965-2 (PDF). FAO, 2013. FAO encourages the use, reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Except where otherwise indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for private study, research and teaching purposes, or for use in non-commercial products or services, provided that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO as the source and copyright holder is given and that FAO's endorsement of users' views, products or services is not implied in any way.

4 All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be made via request or addressed to FAO information products are available on the FAO website ( publications) and can be purchased through iii Preparation of this document This document was prepared as a part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Aquaculture Service's (FIRA) ongoing regular work programme on Studies, reviews, guidelines and manuals on use of feed and nutrient in sustainable aquaculture development , under organizational output Aquaculture practices and technologies that comply with the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) are developed and promoted.

5 This particular study on Feeding and feed management of Indian major carps in Andhra Pradesh, India was carried out following the recommendations of the COFI Sub-Committee on Aquaculture and also that of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) that culture of species low in the food chain such as carps and other cyprinids should be promoted, particularly when focusing on food security. This technical paper was edited by Mr Michael B. New for linguistic quality and technical content. For consistency and conformity, scientific and English common names of fish species were used from FishBase ( ). Most of the photographs in this technical paper were provided by the first author Dr R. Ramakrishna. Where this is not the case, due acknowledgements are made to the contributors.

6 The authors gratefully acknowledge the numerous fish farmers in West Godavari, Krishna, East Godavari and Nellore districts for their voluntary and active support in providing valuable data and information during the field survey of this study. The author acknowledge Mr V. Ramachandra Raju, Secretary, and the members of Delta Fish Farmers Association, Eluru, West Godavari; Mr Nagi Reddy, Vice-President, the Confederation of Andhra Pradesh Farmers Association; Mr M. Seetha Rama Raju, President, and the members of the Krishna District Fish Farmers Association for their kind assistance during the survey conducted for this study; the scientific and field staff of Andhra Pradesh State Fisheries Department for their help during the field survey.

7 Various commercial producers of de-oiled rice bran and oil cakes in Andhra Pradesh ( , the Solvent Extractors Association of India, Mumbai; Andhra Pradesh Rice Bran Solvent Extractors' Association, Vijayawada), the commercial feed manufactures, and their technical, field staff and distributors in Andhra Pradesh, for sharing their production details and field experiences. Special thanks to Dr Jarin Sawanboonchun for providing the preliminary review of the manuscript and Ms N. Sridevi for her patient and efficient computer recording of data and typing of the manuscript. Ms Tina Farmer and Ms Marianne Guyonnet are acknowledged for their assistance in quality control and FAO house style. Mr Jose Luis Castilla Civit prepared the layout design for printing, and Ms Danielle Rizcallah provided the miscellaneous assistance.

8 The publishing and distribution of the document were undertaken by FAO, Rome. Finally, Jiansan Jia, Chief of the Aquaculture Branch of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department is acknowledged for providing the necessary support, advice and insight to initiate the study and to complete the publication. iv Abstract This study reviews the aquaculture of Indian major carps , rohu (Labeo rohita), catla (Catla catla) and mrigal (Cirrhinus cirrhosus) with special reference to current Feeding and feed management practices in Andhra Pradesh, India. The study is based on a survey of 106 farmers from four regions in Andhra Pradesh (Kolleru, Krishna, West Godavari, and Nellore). Kolleru and the surrounding districts of Krishna and West Godavari are the primary culture areas.

9 In Nellore district, Indian major carp culture is practiced at a lower intensity to that practiced in Kolleru. In East Godavari district, Indian major carps are primarily cultured in polyculture systems with either black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) or giant river prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii). While the study primarily focused on the feed management practices associated with Indian major carp production, management practices that are used under polyculture conditions with other species-groups were also assessed. The study revealed that mash feed was the most popular and widely used feed type. De-oiled rice bran was used as the principal feed ingredient, followed by groundnut cake and cottonseed cake.

10 All the farmers reported using de-oiled rice bran, while 56 percent used groundnut cake, 40 percent used cottonseed cake, and 30 percent used raw rice bran and other mash feed ingredients. The poor quality of the mash feed ingredients, especially the de-oiled rice bran, groundnut cake, and cottonseed cake was an important issue of concern to the farmers. Commercially manufactured pelleted feeds were used by 33 percent of the farmers to complement their mash feeds, with the majority choosing to use sinking pellets. Since 2007, there has been a marked increase in the use of commercially manufactured aquafeeds, most notably for the large-scale production of the striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus).