Week 7 - Feed Trials

Following the grading, I decided this week we would carry out some simple feed trials. At present we have three ponds that we know the stocking density of as well as the average size. We then have a further pond which apparently has 150g+ fish in but an unknown amount.

I decided to have four different scenarios going on in the ponds, they are as follows:

Pond 1 - Organic Manure Only - 24g
Pond 2 - Inorgarnic Manure Only - 24g - 65g
Pond 3 - Feed Only - 24g - 65g
Pond 4 - Organic Manure and Feed - 150g+??

I will attempt to grade the fish next month before having a complete harvest before I leave in order to see if we have any greater production in a particular pond. From a scientific point of view, the experiment is poor, most of the fish are likely to have stunted already and growth over such a short time is hard to measure accurately. The other issue is timing, the rainy season is getting closer by the day and I worry about the impacts it will have on the farm.

Neverthless, its further experience for the community and offers them an insight into the different feeding and fertilising methods you can adopt.

For the manure, we constructed a few cribs in the corner of the ponds, made from bamboo and rubber. They succesfully hold the elephant manure quite well. Finally we installed a feed table in one pond to monitor the feeding behaviour.

Constructing a Feed Table

Putting the feed table in the pond

Constructing a crib

Elephant manure in the crib