STUDIES ON THE STOCKING DENSITY OF HORMONE TREATED TILAPIA (OREOCHROMIS NILOTICUS) FRY

With changing demand in Bangladesh, the tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) has recently gained popularity among farmers. Since mortality play a vital factor in culture system and profitability, the present study was conducted to estimate the mortality in relation to stocking density of hormone treated tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in hapa culture systems. Pond preparation was done before the experiment was conducted with three treatments i.e. three different stocking densities namely T1, T2 and T3. Initial average weight of fish was 0.09g. A commercial powdered feeds fed at the rate of 35% body weight up to first seven days and then gradually it was readjusted to 25, 15 and 10%, respectively up to 28 days. The water quality parameter such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, were monitored at seven days interval. At the end of the trial, the growth performances were evaluated by comparing mean final body weight, specific growth rate (SGR) and mortality rate. The mean total weight gain of T3 (1170 ± 2.00g) was significantly higher than T1 (1148.00 ± 2.00g), followed by T2 (1345.00 ± 5.00g). Significantly (P<0.01) the higher SGR value (11.56) was recorded in treatment T2 whereas the lower SGR value (10.52) was obtained in T3. The values of mortality were recorded as 3.38, 12.50 and 20.96% in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The highest mortality (20.96%) was found in treatment T3 whereas the lowest mortality (3.38%) was found in T1. The production was found 5.252 kg/hapa/28days, 4.899 kg/hapa/28days and 4.881 kg/hapa/28days from T1, T2 and T3, respectively.