Growth and osmoregulatory response of Cyprinus carpio haematopterus (Amur carp) reared in inland saline water

Abstract

A 90 days experiment was designed to assess the growth and osmoregulatory response of Cyprinus carpio haematopterus (Amur carp) in inland saline water of sub-humid and semi-arid/ arid zones of Haryana, India. Two hundred forty fingerlings (avg. wt. 3.48±0.272 g) were equally distributed in 4 treatment groups (salinities; control C, 0 ppt; T1, 5 ppt; T2, 10 ppt and T3, 15 ppt) with 3 replicates in 500 L tanks followed by complete randomized design (CRD). There were no significant differences observed in physico-chemical parameters of water among different treatments and found in optimum range throughout the experimental period. The parameters, viz. total alkalinity, hardness (total, calcium and magnesium) and concentration of ions were varying with the salinity and displayed increasing trend with increase in salinity. At the end of experiment, 100% survival was obtained upto 5 ppt whereas decreasing trend was found with increasing salinity (T2 and T3). There was highest% weight gain obtained in control group followed by T1, T2 and T3 groups. The highest specific growth rate (SGR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) along with lowest food conversion ratio (FCR) was reported in control group followed by T1 and T2 groups, while lowest SGR, PER and highest FCR were reported in T3 group. Serum and water osmolality showed significant increasing trend with increasing salinity, while osmoregulatory capacity was decreasing with increase in salinity. Based on the findings, it is suggested that Amur carp can be cultured with 100% survival up to 5 ppt with slightly lower production rate.

Salinity tolerance and survival of an Indian major carp, Cirrhinus mrigala (mrigal): Feasibility assessment for rearing in inland saline water

“…In the present investigation, the pH and DO remained well within the optimum range for carps thus depicted that there was no detrimental effect of varying salinity on the pH and DO of water. The above findings are in agreement with Singh et al (2020) who also reported these parameters with in optimum limits for carps at different salinities.…”

“…Moreover, alike stock water, amongst different cations, Na + was the most prevailing cations (Na + >Mg 2+ >Ca 2+ >K + ), whereas among the anions, Cl -1 was the most abundant followed by SO 4 2in the treatments having salinity level of 2-10 ppt. The conclusion of the current study can be supported by the similar findings with respect to ionic concentration at different salinities (Sharma et al, 2017;Chitra et al, 2017;Singh et al, 2018;Bhatt et al, 2018;Kumar et al, 2018;Singh et al 2020).…”

“…4 and 8 ppt for mrigal (Baliarsingh et al, 2018;Hoque et al, 2020), 6 ppt for common carp (Mangat andHundal, 2014, Singh et al, 2019), 6 ppt for rohu (Tarer, 2000;Islam et al, 2014) and < 5 ppt for catla (Hoque et al, 2020) but studies pertaining to use of inland saline water is limited. In reference to the salinity tolerance of freshwater carps in inland saline water, Singh et al (2020) documented that amur carp can tolerate salinity up to 5 ppt (100% survival) during long term rearing, while koi carp, rohu and common carp can tolerate salinity up to 12, 10 and 10 ppt, respectively (100% survival) during short term (10 days) rearing (Sharma, 2017;Kumar et al, 2018;Singh et al, 2018). Among freshwater catfish, Kumar et al (2017) reported that Pangasianodon hypophthalmus can tolerate the salinity up to 15 ppt in inland saline water.…”

“…Various physico-chemical properties of water influence primary and secondary production, thereby influencing fish production. Salinity is one of the major abiotic/physical factors influencing the survival, growth and metabolism of aquatic animals (Mubarik et al, 2015) and any fluctuation in water salinity beyond the tolerance level may results in to poor growth, health and mortality in fish (Gholampoor et al, 2011;Kumar et al 2018;Singh et al, 2018). As aquaculture activity in Punjab is primarily based on freshwater carps, therefore, for its expansion as well as diversification in salt affected area, it is imperative to know the maximum salinity tolerance limit of important and widely cultivable freshwater fish species, such as mrigal, in inland saline water.…”

“…Many studies have been done to evaluate the effect of acute and chronic salinity stress on the salinity tolerance limit, survival and behavioral changes in fishes like rohu/Jayanti rohu (Kumar et al, 2018;Murmu et al, 2020), catla (Hoque et al, 2020), common carp (Mangat and Hundal, 2014Singh et al, 2018), mrigal (Baliarsingh et al, 2018;Hoque et al, 2020) in artificial/inland saline water but comprehensive studies with respect to salinity tolerance, survival and behavioral responses (swimming, feed intake) in mrigal in inland saline water are scanty. Hence, the present study is designed to evaluate the salinity tolerance limit as well as behavioural and morphological changes in freshwater carp, C. mrigala (mrigal) during short term rearing in inland saline water at different salinity levels.…”