Title:
DEVELOPMENT oF SEMI-INTENSIVE AQUACULTURE
TECHNOLOGIES IN HONDURAS
Author(s):
Green, B., D. Teichert-Coddington and T. Hanson
Date: 1994
Funding Agency: USAID
Keywords: honduras, aquaculture, tilapia, ponds, development, international
Category: International Funded Research Report
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Summary/Recommendations/Objectives:
Aquacultural research has been conducted collaboratively in
Honduras since 1983 by the
International Center for Aquaculture and Aquatic Environments.
Auburn University and the
Direccion General de Pesca y Acuicultura, Secretaria de Recursos
Naturales. This research was
carried out at the EJ Carao National Fish Culture Research
Center, Comayagua, Honduras, under the
auspices of the USAID-financed Pond Dynamics/Aquaculture
Collaborative Research Support
Program (PD/A CRSP). The goal of PD/A CRSP is to increase
tilapia yields by optimizing resource
use in systems based predominantly on natural pond productivity.
Ponds were stocked with male Nile tilapia (Oreochromis
niloticus). Pond nutrient inputs
were organic and chemical fertilizers, and supplemental feed either
alone or in some combination.
Fish stocking rate was 10,000/ha during the initial five years
of work. During this same period,
experiments were repeated during the rainy and dry seasons on
the assumption that seasonal differences
would significantly affect pond productivity. However,
temperature proved to be the factor
that affected fish growth most, and the cooler period of the year overlapped the rainy and dry seasons.
Thereafter. a warm and cool experimental season was used rather
than a rainy and dry season.
Difference in fish yield between warm and cool seasons can
exceed 25 percent.
Stocking more than 10,000 fish/ha in organically-fertilized
ponds resulted in smaller fish and no
greater fish yields. Increasing stocking rate to 20,000/ha resulted
in greater yield when organic
fertilizer (chicken litter) was supplemented with nitrogen as
urea. In research on the combination of
organic fertilization and supplemental feeds, feed use was more
efficient when combined in low
amounts (1.5 percent biomass/d) with fertilizer, or when used
beginning the third or fourth month of
grow-out. Higher economic gains with feed over sole use of
chicken litter were never realized at
stocking rates less than 20,000 fish/ha. Economic returns from
organic fertilizer plus feed were no
greater than returns from organic fertilizer plus nitrogen as urea. Tilapia yields of 3,500 kg/ha in 150
days were obtained in fertilized ponds without feeds. Yields
increased to 5,300 kg/ha in 150 days
when supplemental feeds were used, but high feed cost reduced
net return to less than those for
fertilizers alone.
Assuming a market value independent of fish size, manure plus
urea was the most profitable
management system. Sixteen pond management strategies resulted
in positive economic returns. All
treatments with positive economic returns used stocking rates of
at least 20,000 tilapia/ha. Production
of large tilapia (> 400 g) necessitates the use of formulated
feeds, but a higher market value for
large tilapia is required in order for profitability of this
management system to exceed that of systems
based on organic fertilization plus urea. Large tilapia
generally are produced for export markets
and require more intensive production practices. Tilapia
harvested from semi-intensively
managed ponds can supply domestic markets in Central America.
Combined use of organic and
chemical fertilizers as nutrient inputs for tilapia ponds
requires less capital expenditure than commercial
feeds, and therefore are appropriate for small- to medium-scale
commercial producers who supply domestic markets.
