Integration Of Aquaculture With Makhana

Integration of Carp culture with Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb.) – A Route to Crop Diversification

Dr. Anand Mohan Verma Reg. No. – PGDIF 114

Guide Dr. Subhendu Datta Sr. Scientist

POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN INLAND FISHERIES Central Institute of Fisheries Education Kolkata centre 32-GN Block, Sector V, Kolkata – 91, India

1

Integration of Carp culture with Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb.) – A Route to Crop Diversification Introduction: The word makhana is composed of two Sanskrit words – Makh, means Yajna and Anna, means grain. Due to its non-mentioning in Vedas, it is considered as non-indigenous in origin. It is an aquatic dry fruit with high nutritional value and medicinal properties also. The edible pops are the finished products obtained after the processing of the seeds of this aquatic phytocrop. Makhana is major cash crop of North Bihar. Makhana is called fox nut or Gorgon nut in English because its seeds are hard and nut like. Its scientific name is Euryale ferox salisb. Earlier scientific name of Makhana was Anislia spinosa. It belongs to the family Nymphaeceae. Makhana is very states. Sanskrit Maithili Hindi Bengali Gujrati Marathi Asami Punjabi & Kashmiri Orria Telgu -

delicious fruit and is called different names in different Makhann Makhan Makhana Mokhana Makhanna Makhano Nikori Jewar Kanti Padam Padmanu

In my opinion Makhana can be called as ‘Black gems of Wetlands’. As far the distribution of Makhana plants is concerned it is found in natural wild forms in various parts of north East India (Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura) and in scattered pockets of U.P. and Orissa. However, North Bihar 2

is the principal area where it is cultivated as cash crop. In North Bihar about 9 districts (Kishanganj, Araria, Purnia, Katihar, Supaul, Madhepura, Saharsa, Darbhanga and Madhubani.) witness the cultivation of Makhana. It is important aquatic bio-resource of North Bihar.

Life cycle and Cultivation Makhana is a perennial rooted floating aquatic herb. In north Bihar it is cultivated as annual aquatic phytocrop. Its plant is large prickly with orbicular floating gigantic leaves. The size of leaves even more than 1 m. Plant is rooted with rhizomatous stem and cluster of roots. Leaves are green above and purple beneath. Flowers are violet in colour. Two types if flowers appear cleistogamous and chasmogamous. Fruits are spongy berry like which undergo dehiscence to release the arillated seeds. Mucilaginous arils keep the seeds floating for few days. Seeds finally settle down to the bottom. Each Makhana plant produces 15-20 fruits and each fruit contains 30-40 seeds.

3

Phenological cycle of E. ferox comprises four stages – seeding stage, seedling stage, grand growth stage and harvesting stage. Oct. – Nov. is the seeding phase, only for new cultivating ponds but seeding is not followed in traditionally cultivated ponds because unharvested seeds of preceding crop left over the pond bed germinate to for new plants. Seeds germinate at the bottom during Dec. – Jan. and grow a new crop.

4

The crop achieves maximum growth during April – June and called grand growth stage. Flowering starts in May and flowering fruiting continue till mid July.

5

Flowering and fruiting of Makhana Crop

Maturation of Leaves

R

O

S I

T

MAY

JUN

APR

F

H

Stocking of fingerlings of grass carp

AUG

Fish Makhana Integration

FEB

JAN

JUL

Total Harvesting of Fish

JUL

MAR

Sprouting of Leaves

Cutting of Leaves of Makhana

W

Harvesting of Makhana Crop

Transplantation of makhana Seedlings

G H

Stocking of fingerlings of Fish

Ger mination of Mak hana seeds

AUG

NOV

F

D U M

H

DEC SEP

T

OCT

I

W

S H S

G E E

R D S

E H

O T I

N

Integration Integrated fish farming is a diversified and coordinated way of farming or producing agricultural items or the items of animal husbandry in the fish farms. The items are to be used as source of feeds and fertilizer, source of additional income or both. The integration of these items in a fish farm promotes full utilization of its land area and recycling of wastes and by products, minimizes the operation expenses in the feeds and fertilizers. Ultimately, there is an improvement in the living stander of the workers due to increase in income. Types of Integration Integrated fish farming is nothing but the clubbing and there are various types of integrated fish farming like Paddy cum fish culture, fish with horticulture, dairy cum fish culture, poultry cum fish culture, duckery cum fish culture, Piggery cum fish culture, etc. 6

Integrated with Air Breathing Fishes
Air breathing fishes thrive well in Makhana cultivating ponds. Earlier Dehdrai under All India Coordinated Research Project on Air breathing fishes reported the production of air breathing fishes (1200 Kg/ha) in Makhana ponds (Dehadrai, 1972).
After culturing of air breathing fishes in such ponds, I obtained a 3600 Kg/ha of fish (Verma et al., 1996). But to culture carp fishes in such biotope adoption of some techniques is essential to make the entire ecosystem friendly to the fishes. Integrated carp culture with Makhana It is done for the purpose of : 1. Utilization of pond to get two cash crops Makhana and Fish at a time. 2. To minimize the production cost of both crops. 3. To Control insects, pests, nematodes, gastropods which damage Makhana plants as fishes feed upon these macro invertebrates. 4. Aquatic weed compete with Makhana. To reduce this competition and to save labour charges for deweeding, grass carp was included in the carp culture to feed on these weed. 5. To utilize organic matter formed due to decomposition of the various parts of makhana crop which provides suitable habitat for bottom dwelling fishes. 6. To utilize all the available trophic levels and different niches in wetland ecosystem. 7. To utilize the various nutrients released in water after decomposition of makhana plants to accelerate fish growth. 8. To avoid poaching of fishes as makhana plants are prickly. 9. To reduce the risk by crop diversification.

Seeding of Makhana 1. In the traditional Makhana culture pond fresh seeding of Makhana is not needed, where as in fish culture pond (where there is no Makhana plants) this integrated culture is not followed. 7

2. The unharvested seeds of Makhana of the preceding crop left over at the pond bottom germinate to form the seedlings for succeeding years.

Thinning and Transplantation (From My Work): To maintain the inter-space between two plants of E. ferox were uprooted in March, 99 and were transplanted all over the available water space keeping a gap of about one meter in between two plants. During thinning and transplantation, vacant spaces were left in two regions of the pond – central region and corner region. In the central region, 7 cm long and 3 m broad vacant space was left in which no transplantation was performed. Again to prevent the entry of crawling leaves of makhana plants into this area, this space was enclosed with the help of bamboo poles. Further four vacant spaces one on each corner of the pond, were also provided. Purpose of such device was to provide dissolved oxygen to the stocked fishes during the grand growth stage of makhana crop (Verma, Aaj -Daily Newspaper from Patna, 2002).

8

Cutting of Leaves In July, 99 all the leaves of the crop were cut off from the petiolar region with the help of sickle and then the leaves were left to decay after keeping these in inverted position.

9

Harvesting: In August, 99 the aquaphytocrop was harvested by skilled fishermen. The scattered seeds of makhana crop present in the pond soil were gathered by them with the help of hands and legs. Heaps of seeds were made and finally these seeds were lifted up with the help of baskets called ‘Gaanj’, total weight of the seeds were taken (Jha et al., 2003). Total weight of the seeds were 469 Kg/0.40 ha/yr. From above seeds 200 kg of makhana pops were obtained after processing. On the basis of Makhana seed yield this pond can be categorized as moderate yielding pond (Verma, 2003)

Post Harvest technology or Pop Preparation or Popping: Seeds are hard, black coloured, round in shape with a diameter of 45 mm to 15 mm and have seed coat called pericarp. Seeds contain starchy endosperm (Jha et al., 2003). Drying
Size grading
Heating
Tempering
Roasting
Popping
Grading
Packaging.

10

Fisher woman drying the raw Makhana seeds

Sieves of various mesh size

Makhana seeds being roasted in earthen pots

Production data from Kosi Division: This sector is not organized. All India or Bihar or even North-Bihar data is not available. I worked on Kosi division of Bihar and generated some data, gist of which is given below. The division consists of three districts e.g. Sharsha, Supaul and Madhepura.





Total area covered: 2430.5 ha Total Production: 1726 mt/yr No. of People involved: 10,369 Total Revenue: Rs. 11.01 lakh/yr

(Verma, 1995). 11

Management of Fish Crop: Stocking of fingerlings of different fish species – Total 1400 no. of fingerlings of Catla, Rohu, Mrigal, Common Carp, Silver Carp, and Grass Carp in the ration of 20:15:20:30:5:5 respectively were stocked in July, 98. Average wt. of Catla, Rohu, Mrigal, Common Carp, Silver, Carp and Gras carp was 20.6 gm, 21.3 gm., 23.6 gm, 29.5 gm, 17.8 gm, and 26.9 gm, respectively. Monthly growth – Monthly increase in wt. was observed after netting with cast net. Harvesting – In August, 99, harvesting was conducted and species wise wt. was taken. Total Yield of fish: 852 Kg/0.4 ha in 392 days. Fish Growth – Highest wt. gain by common carp was followed by Mrigal, Silver Carp, catla, Rohu and Grass Carp. Decomposed plant parts of makhana crop supplied the organic matter which, besides acting as food both for bottom dwelling fishes like Mrigal and Common Carp and soil organisms, promoted a suitable substrate in the pond for a rich growth of attached algae, zooplankton, insect larvae, nematodes and gastropods which formed as natural fish food organisms. Plant parts of makhana after decomposition released nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium in the water to enhance the plankton population resulting ultimately in an increase of fish growth. Fish production – Total fish production was 852 kg comprising 100 kg of Rohu, 287 kg Common carp, 246 kg of Mrigal, 147 kg of Catla, 32 kg of Grass carp and 40 kg of silver carp. Water and Soil quality parameters Transparency – During July’ 98 and Aug’ 99, transparency was 36 cm and 42 cm which was due to high rate of decomposition of organic matter whereas in December’ 98 and Jan’ 99, low rate of decomposition results the transparency 72 cm and 70 cm respectively.

12

Table: Production data of fish Species

Catla

No. Initial fingerlings wt. stocked (Av. in gm) 280 20.6

No. of fish harvested

Total final wt. (Kg) at harvesting

Survival %

265

Growth rate (Av. in gm) 554

147

94.6

Rohu

210

21.3

200

500

100

95.2

Mrigal

350

23.6

340

723

246

97.1

Common carp

420

29.5

400

717

287

95.2

70

17.8

60

666

40

85.7

70

26.9

55

581

32

78.5

Silver carp Grass carp 1400

1320

852

pH: PH of water remained neutral to slight alkaline on nature (7.3 to 8.2). During June’ 99 decomposition leads to form free Co2 resulting the formation of carbonic acid to bring down the PH. But during Dec’ 98 and Jan’ 99 dense vegetation of aquatic weds utilize more Co2 to increase PH. Free CO2: During June’ 99 increase in temperature leads to decomposition of organic matter to form maximum amount of free Co2 (32 mg/l). But during Dec’ 98 to march’ 99 high photosynthetic activities of aquatic weeds and algae bring down Co2 value (25.2 to 26.4 mg/l). Dissolved Oxygen – During Feb’ 99 dissolved oxygen content was 8.10 mg/l which was due to high solubility of oxygen from air at low temperature. But during June’ 99, the covered water showed the value of 5.05 mg/l and uncovered water showed 6.04 mg/l. Low D.O. value during this month was due to utilization of oxygen for decomposition of organic matter. The sprawling leaves of makhana plants decreases the D.O content but the provision of vacant space did not allow to lower the D.O. content up to that limit which could be fatal for the fishes. Phosphate and Total Nitrogen – The content of phosphate and total Nitrogen was highest during June’ 99 due to bacterial decomposition. Soil pH: pH of soil was neutrality to slightly alkaline due to long submergence. Decrease in PH in May’ 99 and June’ 99 was due to formation of Co2 after decomposition of organic matter. 13

Organic Carbon (%): Highest percentage (1.10) during Aug’ 99 was due to accumulation of organic matter at the bottom after decomposition of makhana plants. Phosphorus (mg/100 gm Soil) - Low content of phosphorous (7.20) during June’ 99 was due to its utilization by Makhana plants but highest (14.54) in Oct’ 98 due to accumulation. Nitrogen (mg/100 Soil) – Low content of nitrogen (49.0) during April’ 99 was due to its utilization by Plants but accumulation led to highest value (96.0). Phytoplankton – Phytoplankton were represented by Cyanophyceae Chorophyceae and Bacillariophyceae. Chlorophyceae was rich in species diversity being represented by 21 species followed by Canophyceae and Bacillariophyceae with 5 and 4 species respectively. Highest phytoplankton population (4208 u/l) was recorded in Feb’ 99 and lowest (989 u/l) during Dec’ 98. Zooplankton – Zooplankton were represented by protozoa, rotifera, cladocera and copepoda. The highest population was recorded in May’ 99 and lowest population in September’ 98. Temperature and nutrients content controlled the zooplankton population. Economics Items

Quantity

Total amount (Rs.)

1. Lease of a pond One (0.4 ha.) 2. Labour charges (Transplanting of Makhana plantlets, cutting of leaves, harvesting, poping, preparation and netting of fish). 90 man-days 3. Cost of fingerlings 1400 nos. Total Expenditure

1,000

7,000 970 8,970

Returns : 1. Sale of 200 kg. of Makhana pops 16,000 2. Sale of 852 Kg. of fish 34,080 Total: Rs. 50,800 Profit: Rs. 50,080 - Rs. 8,970 = Rs. 41,110 Thus, Net profit was Rs. 41,110 i.e. Rs. 1,02,775 per ha/crop.

14

References 1. Verma, A. M. (1994). Integrated fish farming with Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb.) Fishing chimes 5:13. 2. Verma, A.M. (1995). Aquatic horticulture- occupation of fisherman community of Kosi division North Bihar. Environ & Ecol. 13 (4) : 960964. 3. Verma A.M., Ahmad, S.H. and Jha V. (1996). Integrated Culture of air breathing carnivorous fishes with Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb) in a derelict wetland of North Bihar, India. J. Freshwater Biol. 8(2) : 117120. 4. Jha, V., Verma, A.M., Jha, A.K. and Banerjee, L.K. (1998). Rural technology for harvesting makhana seeds (Euryale ferox Salisb.) in Bihar. Botanical Survey of India ENVIS News Letters, 5: 7-8. 5. Verma, A.M. (2002). Machhli aur Makhana ki samanwait kheti, Aaj (Hindi Daily Newspaper published from Patna). p.6. 6. Verma, A.M. (2003). Problem and prospects of Makhana cultivation in Kosi division Nort-Bihar, Makhana, ICAR publication, New Delhi. P.103106. 7. Jha, V., Verma, A.M. and Jha, A.K. (2003). Indegenous contrivances utilized in Makhana cultivation in north and north-eastern India. Makhana. ICAR Publication, New Delhi, p 241-248. 8. Verma, A.M. (2004). Matsya palan ke sath Makhana ki samanwait kheti- ek labhkari pranali, Asmarika karyasala on Pen and cage culture, Matsya bibhag Bihar sarkar, 7-9. 9. Verma A.M. (2005). Ecological Studies of integrated fish culture with Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb) in North Bihar, Ph.D. Thesis, L. N. Mithila University, Darbhanga. 10. Verma, A.M. (2006). Integration of aquacrops, agriculture and dairy farming in a derelict wetland of North Bihar. J. Inland Fish. Soc. India. 38 (1): 86-89. 11. Verma, A. M., Jha, V., Ahmad, S.H. (2007). Fish-Makhana (Euryale Ferox Salisb.) Integration - A Case Study of Sustainable Aquafarming System In North Bihar. J. Indian Fish. Association (Communicated).

15