Water Requirement and Efficacy of a Prototype Hatchery for Selective Breeding of Rohu, <i>Labeo rohita</i>

Abstract

A prototype hatchery was constructed at Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar, India to produce spawn of fullsib families of rohu (Labeo rohita) carp and mass production of genetically improved rohu spawn. While following combined selection method, fullsib families have to be produced and reared separately from fertilized eggs to fingerlings i.e., till taggable size for individual tagging. The specialized hatchery was developed for individual fullsib family spawn production i.e., fertilized eggs to spawn. Water requirement study was performed for full sib family production as well as for mass scale spawn production and, it was worked out to be 10.54 and 81.07 m3 for one fullsib family and a million of spawn production, respectively. The specialized hatchery improved the production of fullsib families and spawn recovery percentage to a greater extent. Recovery of fullsib families increased from 70-82% to 94-100% in different year classes. In the present paper, efficacy of the hatchery for fullsib family and mass scale spawn production in selective breeding programme of rohu for last 19 years is discussed. The same model of hatchery can also be utilized for selective breeding programme for any other carp species.