Impact Of Indiscriminate Use Of Cow-Dung On The Physico-Chemical Parameters Of Nursery Ponds Of Chilya Fish Hatchery District Thatta, Sindh

Abstract

The present study was planned to study the effects of the application of cow dung on the physico-chemical parameters and growth performance of major carp, Cirrhinus mrigala of the nursery ponds of Chilya fish hatchery, district Thatta, Sindh. The experiment was conducted for six months from March to August 2008, using ten nursery ponds size about 450 × 1500 cm (15 × 50 feet). Cow dung was applied once to the experimental nursery ponds at the rate of 5, 10 and 15 kg per nursery pond and one control without manure. The results of the study effect of cow dung on physico-chemical parameters indicated that cow dung treatments had significant effect on the water transparency, dissolved oxygen (DO) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of the treated ponds. The pH and total hardness of the water were not affected by the cow-dung treatment. For the study of growth performance of major carp, Cirrhinus mrigala each nursery pond was stocked with 20 Morakhi, of mean initial weight of 6.40 ± 1.60 g. The results indicated that the significantly (p>0.05) highest growth and survival of experimental fish was obtained from treatment II (10 kg cow dung/pond) followed by treatment III. While significantly (p<0.05) lowest growth was recorded from control and treatment I. The above findings indicated that the proper manuring with organic fertilizers have considerable importance in environment and fish culture. Therefore it is concluded that the dose of cow dung (10 kg/pond) was suitable for the physico-chemical parameters and the growth of major carp Cirrhinus mrigala in nursery pond.