Integrated farming of stinging catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis) and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in farmer’s pond

Abstract

A study was carried out to evaluate the growth and production performances of stinging catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis) and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) under two treatments such as T₁ (shing-rabbit integrated system) and T₂ (shing monoculture) in farmers’ pond. Twelve ponds from two villages such as Sutiakhali and Salakandi under Mymensingh sadar upazila were selected for the study. The average pond size was 5.5±0.23decimal with a stocking density of 600 shing dec^-1. The ponds were only fertilized with rabbit dung except at the time of pond preparationat a rate of 1 kg dec^-1. Various environmental parameters such as temperature (^oC), transparency (cm), PH, dissolve oxygen (mg L^-1), PO₄-P (mg L^-1), NO₃-N (mg L^-1), NO₂-N (mg L^-1), NH₃-N (mg L^-1), chlorophyll and alkalinity (mg L^-1) were monitored once in a week. The parameters were found to vary little from pond to pond and most of the parameters were within the suitable range for freshwater aquaculture in Bangladesh. The highest survival rate of fish was 95.36 ± 0.15 % in treatment T₁ and the lowest was 90.39 ± 0.10 % in treatment T₂. The survival rates of fish were not significantly different among the treatments (P > 0.05). The production of fish in T₁ and T₂ treatment was 25.36 and 20.43 kg dec^-1, respectively. Daily growth of shing in two treatments were 1.95 ± 0.01 and 1.88 ± 0.01 % respectively. The study revealed that integrated shing-rabbit would be highly profitable using improve extensive culture system in the rural household ponds through effectively reducing the use of pond fertilizer and fish feeding cost.