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Aquaculture
America 2002 - Meeting Abstract
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269
STOCKER CHANNEL CATFISH Ictalurus punctatus PRODUCTION AT THREE DIFFERENT
STOCKING
SIZES |
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Steve
Pomerleau*and Carole Engle
Aquaculture/Fisheries Center
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
P.O.Box 4912
1200 N.University
Drive
Pine Bluff,AR
71601
USA
spomerleau@uaex.edu
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Determining
the best management strategy to improve catfish farm
profitability is quite complex.Producers have little basis for
determining the most efficient size of fingerling or stocker
to understock in grow-out ponds in order to meet processing
requirements,cash flow obligations,and to maximize
profits.Some farmers have opted for a threepond production
system.In this system,a fingerling pond is thinned and
fingerlings moved to a stocker pond following which stocker
fish are then transferred to grow-out ponds. Stocker-size fish
stocked in multiple-batch production ponds are thought to
survive better,grow faster,and reach market size
sooner.However,little is known about the cost of producing
stocker catfish. A pond production study was conducted to
analyze the effect of fingerling size stocked on net
yield,growth,feed conversion ratio,and size variability of
stockers at harvest. Vat-graded catfish fingerlings (mean
weight of 9 and 24 g)were stocked 27-28 March 2001 in eight
0.1 ha earthen ponds at 100,000 fingerlings/ha.Fish were fed
once daily to apparent satiation with a commercial 32%protein,
floating catfish pellets.All ponds were aerated nightly with a
0.37-kW electric paddle-wheel aerator.Fish growth was
monitored throughout the production period by partial
seining.Ponds were harvested by seining at the end of October
2001.An enterprise budget was developed for both treatments to
compare costs of producing catfish stockers from different
fingerling sizes.This study followed previous studies,which
determined production characteristics and costs of producing
catfish fingerlings and stockers at different stocking
densities.These studies will eventually be integrated in a
multi-period linear programming model to identify optimal
management strategies for a whole catfish farm. Fish growth
(av.weight ?SD)in 0.1
ha ponds at two different stocking sizes. There are four
replicates of each treatment. Ponds were stocked 27-28 March
and sampled 13 June,26 July,and 19
September
2001. | |
Copyright © 2001 -
2006 World Aquaculture Society All Rights
Reserved.
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