
Pond Production of >2.5-kg Grass Carp with a Soy-Maximized Feed
Category: Aquaculture
Region: Northeast Asia
DownloadA feeding trial was conducted near Hefie, Anhui Province, China, to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of growing grass carp to a >2.5-kg market size with a soy-maximized aquafeed. Two-year old grass carp were stocked in three, 5.0-mu (0.3-ha) commercial fish ponds at a density of 160 grass carp and 100 silver carp per mu (2,400 grass carp and 1,500 silver carp per ha). Grass carp grew from 775 g to an average weight of 2,777 g per fish, with an average FCR of 1.74:1, in 146 days on the soy-based feed. Production averaged 440 kg/mu (6,600 kg/ha) for grass carp and 91kg/mu (1,365 kg/ha) for silver carp. Silver carp served as a service species following the ASA 80:20 technology. Grass carp fed aggressively and grew rapidly on the soy-maximized diet, which included 50% standard soybean meal (44% crude protein) and 16% soy hulls, by volume of feed ingredients.