Integrated fish-pig farming in India and Hungary

Abstract

Management parameters for integrated fish-pig farming conducted in India and Hungary are presented and compared, together with data on the physico-chemical environment, nutrient status, natural fish food resources, primary production, and fish production. Fish production rates of 18.4 kg ha −1 day −1 and 18.0 kg ha −1 day −1 were obtained in India and Hungary, respectively, by recycling the pig manure in fish polyculture ponds. No fish feed or inorganic fertilizers were used. The organic carbon load of 1 – 2 g m −2 day −1 in India and 2 g m −2 day −1 in Hungary resulted in enhanced primary production ranging from 6.5 to 14.1 in India and from 5.36 to 6.49 g C m −2 day −1 in Hungary. This photosynthetically produced organic carbon, together with the added organic carbon, was converted to fish via both the algal and detrital food chains through zooplankton and zoobenthos. Zooplankton (maxima of 20 000 and 10 000 dm −3) and zoobenthos (maxima of 49 000 and 25 000 m −2 in India and Hungary, respectively) were eaten by the fish, in addition to the direct utilization of algal-bacterial aggregates by filter-feeding fish species. The fish production efficiency (the transfer rate in terms of percent primary production converted daily to fish) was 1.41 – 2.76 in India and 2.61 – 3.27 in Hungary. Besides providing protein-rich food at a low cost, the system proved to be an efficient method of both waste disposal and waste utilization. It is interesting to note that the results obtained in the experiments conducted independently in the two countries are closely comparable.