Sticks-in-the-mud that work!
It might look like a defensive structure against marauding enemies, but in fact it s just a way to improve yields in your fish-pond. Just place rows of bamboo sticks in the pond about half a metre apart. The sticks serve as a breeding ground for periphyton (algae, bacteria, plankton and other organisms), on which fish thrive well. This cuts down on fish feed, always a considerable expense for fish farmers. In a joint project in south Asia, researchers from the universities of Mangalore (India), Mymensingh (Bangladesh), Stirling (Scotland), and Wageningen (The Netherlands) spent three years studying, improving and standardising the technique. They had encountered it being used by fishermen in open water, such as the lagoons of Côte d Ivoire and Benin, and some Asian rivers. The effect of the sticks varies according to the type of fish. In the trials Indian carp and tilapia performed well, with yields increasing by 70 to 80%. Other materials can be used as substrates, instead of bamboo. The researchers experimented with sugarcane bagasse, PVC pipes and jute sticks. All led to increased yields but none as much as bamboo. The bamboo can be re-used three to four times. Using rotting material should be avoided as it adversely affects fish production. An extra advantage of the stick-method is that they discourage poachers, since the sticks make it difficult to catch a lot of fish in a short time. The same goes for the fish farmer, who will not easily be able to catch small amounts of fish, but can best remove the sticks at one time and harvest all the fish in one go. [caption to illustration] The sticks play host to foods fish like Ekram Azim, Fish Culture and Fisheries Group, Department of Animal Sciences Wageningen University, PO Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Nederlands Fax: +31 317 483 937 Email: ekram.azim@alg.venv.wau.nl
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2001
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/46310 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99598 |
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