Status of brackishwater prawn farming in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is estimated to have 762.51 ha of brackishwater area under prawn culture- Prawn culture In brackishwater ponds as well as in paddy fields converted into prawn ponds is picking up fast In the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, especially in East Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts. There are more than 200 ha of brackishwater areas suitable for prawn culture in West Godavari district alone. IVIore and more are being brought under prawn farming in this district. Seml-lntensive culture technology is employed by the fish farmers. The average yield Is estimated at 450 kg/ha/crop. This paper presents and discusses the status of prawn culture in Andhra Pradesh, identifies the constraints and suggests strategies for bringing the abundantly available brackishwater areas under scientific prawn culture to Increase the yield from these ponds

Extension service for prawn farming

The technology of prawn culture in India is still traditional and extensive called trapping-cum-holding in brackish water ponds, but adoption of Improved extensive prawn culture technology Is claimed to be picking up fast In several places notably In West Bengal, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. The production from such culture practices is estimated at 15000-17000 tons/year, accounting for about 5% of the total prawn production In India the technology of scientific prawn culture is now available. Though steps are being taken to motivate, and encourage the fish farmers to take up prawn culture on scientific lines to increase their Income, lack of an appropriate extension network Is felt to be a major handicap In the field. This paper attempts to review the various extension services available for taking up prawn culture by the fish farmers. Identifies the pitfalls and proposes a working fisheries extension programme for prawn culture In Indi

Culture practices of freshwater giant prawn in some selected areas of Mymensingh

A study was conducted to examine the culture practices of freshwater giant prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii in some selected areas of Mymensingh. Based on a sample of 100 farmers from three different upazila, namely Phulpur, Gouripur and Ishwargonj in Mymensingh district, 94% of farmers cultured prawn with fish in their pond. Only 6% of farmers cultured prawn, fish and dike crops for higher economic return. The culture period is typically nine months; hatchery produced post-larvae were stocked from May to June and harvested from November to January. Per hectare production of prawn, 375 kg/yr was very low because the farmers followed simple culture method. Most of the farmers made a profit of Tk. 68,403/ha/yr and the major costs incurred were for purchasing prawn seed and feed. The culture of prawn in pond system is technically possible under different conditions though expansion of small-scale prawn farming mainly depends on reduction of production costs. Future targets could be integration of pond prawn culture with other agricultural activities especially dike cropping and rice production in the monsoon

Economic analysis of prawn culture in Andhra Pradesh - Some preliminary findings

Inadaquate supply of quality seed is one of the chief constraints that impedes the quick development of ptawn culture. Estuaries still remain the largest source of prawn seed supply. They are likely to remain so atleast for sometime in offing before the hatchery production of seeds is undertaken commercially and massively. The Marine Products Export development Authority assists the prawn farmers in setting up prawn seed banks by providing technical assistance on prawn culture, undertaking site selection and farm surveys, preparing project reports for submitting to the banks to get financial assistance, releasing subsidy to the tune of 16% on the capital cost of the project and providing continued technical assistance throughout the culture period. Already some prawn farmers have started establishing such prawn seed banks and supplying prawn seed commercially. This paper presents and discusses results of case studies on the economic feasibility of setting up prawn seed banks by fish farmers/prawn farmers

Performance of paddy-cum-prawn culture in rainfed low land ecosystem of Sunderbans

Performance of both paddy (Var. NC 492) and prawn Penaeus monodon were assessed for two years during wet-season in rainfed lowland ecosystem with a view to study the economic viability of paddy-cum-prawn culture in the coastal saline zone of West Bengal. Both mono and dual culture of paddy and prawn were tried in the study. Fingerlings of prawn (α 35,000 haˉ¹) of 10-15 mm size were reared for about three and half months with and without fish feed. It was observed that addition of fish feed resulted in higher (57.7%) production of prawn (2.65 mg/haˉ¹) but not rice. Such increase in prawn production was 1.6 times higher when no feed was provided and 1.4 times higher when grown as sole crop. However, paddy, whether grown as mono or mixed culture, did not differ in yield significantly. In dual culture, the benefit - cost ratio was higher (6.83) when prawn was grown with feed and it was maximum (36.0) when grown without feed as sole crop. The study, therefore, indicates that paddy-cum-prawn culture under low land ecosystem of the coastal saline zone is enterprising particularly for small and marginal farmers who fear to take risk of growing prawn alone at the cost of paddy

Penaeid prawn culture at Valappu village near Cochin - An Experience

The paper presents a success story of a village welfare scciety comisting of Harijans of village Valappu in Kerala which was adopted under lab to land programme for transfer of technology on prawn culture. The members have not only adopted rice cum prawn culture on the reclaimed area but are also producing coconuts and vegetables on the raised bunds made for impounding the back water. The success of this experiment has generated considerable interest in tbe nciRhbourhood farmers to take up prawn cultu re in their field . This study shows that organized prawn culture can also be practiced in tbe Andamans

Evaluation of Sargassum sp. as a nutrient-sink in an integrated seaweed-prawn (ISP) culture system

Effluent water from intensive prawn aquaculture systems typically has a high concentration of dissolved nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. A study was conducted for 42 days to investigate the nutrient flow in a system where brown seaweed (Sargassum sp.) was integrated into western king prawn (Penaeus latisulcatus) culture. Three treatments namely, western king prawn monoculture (5.48 ± 0.29 g), Sargassum sp. monoculture and seaweed/prawn integrated culture were tested for nutrient flow among feed, water and species cultured. The results showed that by integrating seaweed into prawn culture, the concentrations of total ammonium nitrogen (TAN), nitrite–nitrogen (NO2−) and nitrate–nitrogen (NO3−), dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), total nitrogen (TN), phosphate (PO43−) and total phosphorus (TP) were significantly lower (p 0.05) from the prawn monoculture. The mean biomass of Sargassum sp. in integrated culture increased at the rate of 3.16 ± 0.74% g day−1 after 7 days of the study, which was significantly higher than in the monoculture system (5.70 ± 0.82% g day−1). The results suggest that integrating Sargassum sp. into western king prawn culture can benefit prawn farming by assisting in the maintenance of optimum water quality and thereby, reducing environmental impacts on surrounding areas

Entrepreneur gains success in scientific prawn and crab culture

This enterpreneur makes lucrative earning from prawn seed collection too. A scientifically trained prawn-culture farmer may supply up to 0.1 million prawn seeds/day/seaso

Integration of freshwater prawn culture with rice farming in Kuttanad, India

The integration of paddy cultivation with prawn/fish culture can become a viable alternative to effectively utilize the vast area of derelict polders (embanked coastal flood plains) in Kuttanad, India. Nearly 55 000 ha of wetlands in Kuttanad are available for paddy cultivation year-round. Around 5 000 ha of the polders are utilized for Macrobrachium rosenbergii culture as a follow-up crop. Of the total area, about 250 ha of fallow polders are utilized for monoculture of M. rosenbergii from March to October, while in 4 750 ha polyculture with Indian and exotic carps is practiced from November to June. Stocking density is 15 000 to 60 000/ha for monoculture of M. rosenbergii, while in polyculture with carps, it is 5 000 to 20 000/ha of prawn and 5 000 to 10 000/ha of fish. Production from monoculture varies from 95 to 1 297 kg/ha whereas production from polyculture systems it is 70 to 500 kg/ha of prawn and 200 - 1 200 kg/ha of fish. Profits range from Rs. 5 000 to 20 000/ha. An evaluation is made of how the present polders of Kuttanad are best utilized for culture of M. rosenbergii following different systems of integrated farming and how the integration is useful in the aquaculture sustainability of Kuttanad, a tropical wetland ecosystem

Chicken viscera - a potential cheap feed in shrimp culture

Prawn seed and nutritionally balanced compounded feed are the basic requirements fOr shrimp farming. Production of prawn in extensive type of culture depends upon natural food. But in intensive culture/farming the artificial feeding is unavoidabl