Cyprinus carpio: biological features, ecology and diseases and control measures

0499977 - ÚBO 2019 RIV US eng M - Monography Chapter
Roche, Kevin Francis - Adámek, Zdeněk - Jurajda, Pavel
Utilisation of natural food resources by carp in fish ponds.
Cyprinus carpio: biological features, ecology and diseases and control measures. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2018 - (Rahman, M.; Balcombe, S.), s. 65-101. Marine and Freshwater Biology. ISBN 978-1-53614-024-8
Institutional support: RVO:68081766
Keywords : Carp pond management * Cyprinus carpio * Dietary preference * Fish diet * Pond productivity * Semi-intensive management * Supplementary feeding
OECD category: Fishery

Carp in both Central and Eastern Europe and Asia are mainly reared in shallow earth ponds that allow a large proportion of their diet to be provided in-situ via pond zooplankton and zoobenthos. Fish farmers generally consider natural foods superior to artificial diets (especially for younger fish) due to their high digestibility, high water content and rapid growth rate, which ensures high fish densities. Further, such a diet has significant benefits for fish growth and survival and reduces the fish farmer’s outlay considerably. However, while the production costs of carp farmed using natural production only are low, stocking densities and yields are also low in comparison to more intensive production systems. Following a period of increasingly intensive management up to the late 1980s, most carp pond farmers now employ semi-intensive management system characterised by the combination of natural food items (the abundance of which is increased by the addition of animal manure and lime) with supplementary feed that provides the missing nutritional elements, prolongs the growing season, increases growth rates and yield-per-unit volume. In this paper, we briefly examine the role of zooplankton and zoobenthos in carp diet and nutrition, summarise present semi-intensive management systems and the role of manure and lime in promoting zoobenthos and zooplankton availability, and assess the impact of supplementary feeding on natural food uptake by carp. Finally, we highlight a number of suggestions for better balancing the uptake of natural and supplementary feed resources, thereby reducing overall costs, increasing production intensity and efficiency and reducing environmental impact.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0292158