Integrated poultry cum fish farming in Central Himalaya

Abstract

The present communication deals with the experiment conducted on integration of poultry in fish farming in remote area of district Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand during Aug. 2006 to July 2007. Two ponds of equal area (100 m2) were selected, one for experimental and another for control purposes. Five hundred fingerlings of Chinese carp in the ratio of Silver carp (40%), Grass carp (40%) and Common carp (20%) were introduced in both the ponds. Fifteen day old Croyler chicks were integrated with fishes. They were kept separately in a chicken shed which was constructed over the pond. Their droppings acted as food and fertilizer for fishes and ponds respectively. Various physicochemical and biological parameters were found to be in favorable conditions during experimental period in both the ponds. The integrated enterprise was found to be significantly viable in comparison to the non integrated systems in terms of its production and net return viz. – 81.00 kg of fishes along with 500 eggs and 18 kg Croyler meat worth Rs. 9200.00/- was obtained from experimental pond while 62.00 kg fishes worth Rs. 4,960.00/- was obtained from control pond. The system provides diversified products in the form of meat, eggs and fish hence, highly remunerable to fish farmers. Increased productivity gives higher income from the integrated pond. The result indicates that poultry cum fish farming has great scope in hilly areas of the country.