International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research

Authors
Hasna Jahan, Imran Parvez, Abu Syed Md. Kibria

Abstract
An investigation was carried out for a period of one year in Dinajpur district, Bangladesh to know the current aquaculture practices with special emphasis on fish feeds. The study revealed that 89.2% fish farmers were male, 88.3% were Muslims, and 55.8% belong to the age group 41-60 years. In case of education, 45.8% farmers had literacy up to primary level and annual income of 63.3% farmers was below Tk. 50,000. The pond areas of 85.8% farmers were less than 0.50 ha with an average depth of 1.5 m and the water color of most fish ponds (95%) was slightly green and 55% respondents used ground water for polyculture of Indian major carps and exotic carps. In the study areas 30% fish farmers used farm made feeds, 40% used commercial feeds and 30% used both farm made and commercial feeds, and the feed was applied manually twice in a day by most of the farmers (95%). The commonly used feed ingredients were: fishmeal, mustard oil cake, rice bran, maize bran, wheat flour etc. and among the commercial feeds, Mega feed was used by the highest percentage of respondents (35%). The prices of feed ingredients and commercial feeds varied from 22 to 62, and 32 to 110 Tk./kg, respectively. The baseline information on the current aquaculture practices can play vital roles in sustainable aquaculture production.