Farming the coastal land at Tuticorin

The seeds of milkfish, fingerlings of mullets were identified. The seeds of the prawn Penaeus indicus were rich in coastal lagoons The young ones of the crab Scylla serrata were available in the tidal flats and mangrove swamp.The temperature of the pond water varied from 27 to 31.5''C. The dissolved oxygen contentwas in the range 3.5-6.0 ml/L and the salinity of the culture site varied from 17 to 50 ppm. Development of a natural ecosystem like site was explained. Experiments on the culture of the mullet L.macrolepis and the milk fish Chanos chanos were carried out in these ponds during the last three years. P.indicus and S.serrata were also reared separately in four ponds. The period of culture was normally 10 months and designed from May-February. The composite culture with compatible species like milkfish and mullet was found to give good results. Monoculture practices done exclusively with milkfish or mullet in rest of the ponds with different stocking intensities have thrown light in determining the optimum stocking level for better yield. Rice bran and ground nut oil cake at the ratio of 2:1 were supplied to the stocks at 5% of the body weight. The predatory fishes were eradicated from the ponds periodically. Different sets of experiments completed were dicussed in detail with results.