Effect of Monoculture and Polyculture Systems on Growth and Production of Fishes in Seasonal Waterbodies of <i>Haor</i> Villages, Sunamganj District

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the growth and production of Thai sarpunti (Puntius gonionotus), tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and rui (Labeo rohita) under monoculture and polyculture systems in seasonal waterbodies of haor environment. Selected waterbodies were divided into three treatments as T₁ (sarpunti), T₂ (sarpunti+tilapia) and T₃ (sarpunti+tilapia+rui). Each treatment had three replicates and same stocking density (40,000 ha^-1) of fishes was maintained in all treatments. Stocked fishes were fed with rice bran and wheat flour as supplemental feed at a decreasing rate of 10-5% of total biomass for twice daily. The highest final weight of sarpunti (122.32 g), tilapia (102.58 g) and rui (140.0 g) was obtained in T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively. Significantly higher production of sarpunti was secured in T₁ (3,446.13 kg ha^-1) than T₂ (2,942.6 kg ha^-1) and T₃ (2,804.1 kg ha^-1), and tilapia production was better in T₂ (2,786.07 kg ha^-1) than T₃ (2,172.52 kg ha^-1). Combined production of sarpunti, tilapia and rui was significantly (p<0.05) higher in T₃ (8,341.41 kg ha^-1) followed by T₂ (5,728.67 kg ha^-1) and T₁ (3,446.13 kg ha^-1). Therefore, polyculture practice of sarpunti, tilapia and rui may be suggested to disseminate at farmers level for boost up fish production.