RELEVANCE OF A RAPID APPRAISAL APPROACH TO IDENTIFY LOCALLY AVAILABLE FEED INGREDIENTS TO SMALL-SCALE NILE TILAPIA (Oreochromis niloticus L.) AQUACULTURE

Abstract

Applications of a rapid appraisal approach to identify locally available feed ingredients in feed formulation, production, and socio-economics of Nile tilapia aquaculture in Bangladesh are discussed. Three diets of 35%, 30%, and 25% crude protein were formulated using locally available ingredients, and their essential amino acid profiles were assessed for Nile tilapia. Six production scenarios were constructed using these diets and two culture periods of 100 and 150 days were considered. The production scenarios with 35% protein yielded the highest productivity and profitability over the 150-day culture period followed by the 30% protein scenario. Identification of locally available ingredients and their application in small-scale Nile tilapia aquaculture may lead to: (1) increased availability of inexpensive sources of fish production for poor people; (2) increased fish consumption; (3) increased self employment and involvement of women in productive activities; and (4) increased household income to reduce poverty.

Keywords:

• Bangladesh
• feed formulation
• local ingredients
• Nile tilapia
• poverty alleviation
• rapid appraisal
• socio-economics

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments to improve this article. The work is supported by the CGIAR-Canada Linkage Fund provided to the University of Guelph, Canada and the World Fish Center, Malaysia.

Notes

Source: Chowdhury et al. (in press).

^a Available in areas where shrimp processing plants are established.

^b Available in urban or semi-urban areas where slaughter house wastes are sold (no established market).

^aStandard abbreviation used worldwide: Arg – Arginine, Cys – Cystine, Met – Methionine, Thr – Threonine, Iso – Isoleucine, Leu – Leucine, Lys – Lysine, Val – Valine, Tyr -Tyrosine, Try – Tryptophen, Phe – Phenylalanine, His – Histidine.

^a Arg – Arginine, Cys – Cystine, Met – Methionine, Thr – Threonine, Iso – Isoleucine, Leu – Leucine, Lys – Lysine, Val – Valine, Tyr – Tyrosine, Try – Tryptophen, Phe – Phenylalanine, His – Histidine.

^b Required Methionine content is reduced to 0.75%g as Cystine content in all three diets are > 0.54 (from Hasan 2001).

^a Stocking density is given by Binh (1998) for tilapia pond aquaculture.

^a Assumed labor cost 1.025 US$/man-day.

^a Benefit-cost ratio is calculated from FPF/UCP; where FPF is the farm-gate price (US$/kg) of Nile tilapia and UCP is unit cost of production (US$/kg).

^b An average pond size assumed for a Bangladeshi farmer.