Growth and production performance of Vietnamese climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) at farm level in Jashore, Bangladesh

The experiment was carried out to assess the effects of stocking density andmanagement practices on the growth and production performance of exotic climbing perchlocally known as Vietnamese koi (Anabas testudineus). The monoculture of Vietnamese koi wasdone from March to June 2017 in 213.33±63.94 m2 earthen ponds located in Jashore district,Bangladesh. Fingerlings of 2.44±0.04cm total length and 0.22±0.01g weight were stocked at arate of 22 fingerlings/m2 in treatment T1, 55 fingerlings/ m2 in treatment T2 and T3. Supplementalfeed (30% protein) was applied at the rate of 3-10% of body weight in T1 and T2 while in T3 fishwere fed as practiced by the farmers. After 120 days of culture, the survival rate was estimated at84.73±16.86%, 64.12±6.36% and 63.50±25.14 for T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The averagefinal body weight of the fish was 72.67±6.03 g in T1, 53.39±3.49 g in T2 and 52.55±14.12 g inT3. The SGR in treatment T1(4.83±0.07) was higher than T2 (4.58±0.05) and T3(4.55±0.23).While, the FCR was comparatively higher in treatment T3 (1.80±1.15) than T2(1.75±0.14) andT1(1.50±0.67). The productionwas estimated at 13,338kg/ha, 18,574.40 kg/ha and 18,179.20kg/ha in T1, T2 and T3 respectively. The highest net return was estimated in T1 (Tk.3,55,877.60/ha) followed by T2 (Tk. 2,78,122/ha) and T3 (Tk. 2,56,880/ha), respectively. TheBCR was calculated 1.32 for T1, 1.16 for T2 and 1.15 for T3. The stocking number 22/m2 ofVietnamese koi and good management practices might be helpful for enhanced and sustainableproduction of Vietnamese koi in the region.