Evaluation of economic indicators of domesticated beluga females farming in cages and ponds until maturation

Abstract

Formation of beluga brood stocks in artificial conditions whilst a catastrophic state of their natural populations is very timely and relevant. The method of domestication of wild beluga females after intravital obtaining roe was widely used in the Caspian basin, when it was still possible to catch sturgeons in the river. In the Astrakhan region, at the beginning of the current century, that method was considerably used in the formation of beluga brood stocks in cages and ponds after adaptation of fish to artificial conditions of rearing and feeding. At present, the roe obtained from domesticated beluga females is used both for seed production and for caviar production. In addition to studying the fish-breeding indicators of beluga females after obtaining roe, it was of interest to assess the economic efficiency in different farming conditions. The article presents comparative economic indicators of keeping beluga females until maturation in cages and ponds, assessed the total costs, sales income, profit, profitability. The fish-breeding indicators were taken as a basis: total eggs yield, body weight gain, fecundity, the number of oocytes per gram, eggs fertilization ratio, hatching ratio and feed conversion ratio. The article discusses the research data of 15 beluga females in cage conditions and 10 beluga females in ponds. A simplified scheme was adopted in economic calculations, in which it is assumed that feed is a half of the total cost. The results obtained indicate that the profitability of the products obtained from beluga females in cages is an order of magnitude higher than from females in ponds. It was found that the sale of seed production is more profitable than the caviar sales.