Effect of Dry Poultry Waste on the Physico-chemical and Fish Growth Parameters of Exotic carp, Cyprinus carpio at Carp Fish Hatchery (District Badin), Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

To test the effectiveness of introducing dry poultry waste and to study its effect on water quality, growth and survival of exotic carp, Cyprinus carpio, a six month study was conducted from March to August 2010 at carp fish hatchery, district, Badin, Sindh. The poultry manure was maintained in four management regimes: 500, 1000, 1500 g and control were designated as treatment I, II, III and IV respectively, all treatments were replicated thrice. The physico-chemical parameters like temperature, pH, salinity, total dissolved solids, conductivity and dissolved oxygen of the cisterns were recorded fortnightly with the help of digital portable water quality multiparameter. The significantly (P>0.05) lowest ph and temperature ranges were found (7.9-8.87 and 30.0- 34.2 ®C respectively) from treatment I followed by treatment II (8.1-8.97 and 31.8-35.2 ®C respectively) and highest values of pH and temperature were recorded from treatment III (8.2-9.1 31.5-35.7 ®C respectively). Salinity and TDS values in different treatments showed slight variations. The significantly lowest conductivity was noted from treatment I (1220-1786 µS/cm) followed by treatment II (1300-1890 µS/cm) while highest values were obtained from treatment III (1520-2100 µS/cm). The dissolved oxygen values were recorded highest from low dose of waste (4.5-4.9 mg/L) while recorded low with the increasing dose of poultry waste. The results of the growth parameters of the experimental fish showed better growth in terms of mean weight gain, percentage weight gain, specific growth rate, survival rate and production from treatment I followed by treatment II and lowest was from treatment III. It was concluded that the treatment I with 500 g poultry waste was found to be suitable for both water quality and fish growth parameters of the exotic carp, Cyprinus carpio from fish hatchery, district, Badin, Sindh