three fish in ponds.pdf

Vol. 8(8), pp. 81-86, August 2016 DOI: 10.5897/IJFA2016.0566 Article Number: 046427460023 ISSN 2006-9839 International Journal of Fisheries and Copyright ©2016...

Vol. 8(8), pp. 81-86, August 2016 DOI: 10.5897/IJFA2016.0566 Article Number: 046427460023 ISSN 2006-9839 International Journal of Fisheries and Copyright ©2016 Aquaculture Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/IJFA Full Length Research Paper Growth performance of three tilapia fish species raised at varied pond sizes and water depths Fanuel Kapute1*, Joshua Valeta2, Jeremy Likongwe2, Jeremiah Kang’ombe2, Joseph Nagoli3 and David Mbamba4 1 Department of Fisheries Science, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Mzuzu University, P/Bag 201, Luwinga, Mzuzu, Malawi. 2 Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Lilongwe University of Agriculture & Natural Resources, P.O. Box 219, Lilongwe, Malawi. 3 WorldFish, P.O. Box 229, Zomba, Malawi. 4 National Aquaculture Centre, P.O. Box 44, Domasi, Malawi. Received 26 April, 2016; Accepted 18 July, 2016 An on-farm study was conducted in Chingale area in Zomba, Southern Malawi to assess the growth of three tilapia fish species in earthen ponds of different sizes and water depths. The experiment was laid 2 out in a factorial design of 200 and 400 m pond sizes, 0.8 and 1.2 m pond water depths, and fish species: Oreochromis karongae, Oreochromis shiranus and Tilapia rendalli, replicated thrice among randomly selected farmers. Ponds were fertilized monthly with fresh chicken manure at an application rate of 1 ton/ha and fish were fed on maize bran as a supplement at 5% body weight. Fish were sampled and weighed every four weeks over 6 months. O. karongae attained the highest weight gain (65.75 g) in 2 smaller ponds (200 m ) translating into an overall higher gross yield of 2.91 tons/ha/year (P0.05). Fish in deeper ponds had a significantly higher overall mean final weight 2 (52.26 g) (P