Breakthrough in Breeding and Seed Production of Indian Major Carps using CIFABROODTM

The ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar developed the CIFABROODTM, a proven carp brood diet that is being demonstrated in seven states of the country including Tamil Nadu under a NFDB funded Project.

          

A landmark success has been achieved during the demonstration with the successful breeding (Off-Season) of Indian Major Carps (IMC) for the first time in the country in December - 2019 to January - 2020 in a private and a government hatchery. The Monsoon occurs twice in Tamil Nadu every year and rainfall during North-East Monsoon (October-December) is more than South-West (June-August). But, the report (http://www.dahd.nic.in) shows the drastic reduction in the seed production in Tamil Nadu in the last several Years mainly due to the non-synchronization of the Monsoon rain with the breeding period of the fishes.

                                                                   

 

                                                  

The IMCs here normally matures during May-June as it happens elsewhere in the country but farmers are unable to breed the fishes due to scanty and erratic monsoon rainfall during this time. The prolonged hot summer results in breeding failure and reduced spawn production. On the other hand, fishes naturally do not mature during Northeast monsoon under farm condition and there is no report found on IMC breeding at this time in the literature. Farmers are compelled to import seed from West Bengal and other states to sustain aquaculture activities.

            

In the Year - 2019, the CIFABROODTM was provided on both the occasions and particularly, during the North-East Monsoon with an intention to see the effect of the feed on maturation and breeding on spent fishes. The fishes attained maturity in two farms, and started breeding of the fishes in December - 2019 after feeding CIFABROODTM for 45-49 days. The Pugazh Aqua farm, Cuddalore bred both rohu and catla on 3rd December while government fish farm at Manimuthar, Tirunelvelli started breeding of rohu from 5th December, 2019.

Off-Season Breeding data of Two Farms from Tamil Nadu

 

NAME OF FARM	PUGAZH AQUA FARM	GOVERNMENT FISH FARM, MANIMUTHAR
Species name	Rohu and Catla	Rohu
Date of spawning	03/12/2019	05/12/2019	09/12/2019	12/12/2019	09/01/2020
Inducing agent	WOVA-FH	WOVA-FH
Number of Male	11	7	12	15		11
Number of Female	7	5	8	9		6
Spawn harvested (In Lakhs)	25.0	11.0	6.45	13.5		9.0

 

The breeding parameters and spawn recovery is almost comparable with the June-July Monsoon. The spawn produced during December-January is growing very fast and expected to be ready as fingerlings for stocking by March-April, which is much earlier than June. Hence, there may be a huge demand of this spawn from the neighboring aquaculture states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Thus, the culture period will be longer / extended by 3 months starting from March to October. This success has a long term implication as Tamil Nadu can be developed into a major seed production state, especially, during the non-breeding / winter season, which will contribute substantially for the aquaculture production in the country. Now with the intervention of CIFABROODTM, the seasonal barrier in Tamil Nadu is over and IMCs spawn will be available round the year in the country.

(Source: ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar)