Nursing and management of early produced larvae of Thai pangas (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) using greenhouse concept

This experiment was conducted for the development of nursing techniques of early produced larvae of Thai pangus (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) using Greenhouse concept for a period of 40 days from 10th February to 20th March 2020. The experiment was designed into two treatments (i) Greenhouse pond (GP) and (ii) Control or open ponds (CP) having three replicates each. Greenhouse concept was used for increasing the temperature during the winter month for proper growth and survival of the spawn. For this purpose, three ponds were covered with transparent polyethylene sheet fastened into bamboo frame and three ponds with no such covering. All the nursery ponds were stocked at a density of 20 g hatchling/decimal with 3 days old P. hypophthalmus. After 40 days of nursing period, the highest mean final length, weight gain and survival rate of fry were found to be 9.75 cm, 12.44g and 73.19% in greenhouse pond where in Control ponds it was 6.39 cm, 7.22g and 58.08%, respectively. A significantly higher (p<0.05) mean gross production of 6.07 kg/ decimal was found in greenhouse pond where in Control ponds it was 2.80 kg/ decimal in 40 days of nursing period. Water quality parameters were found to be better with good primary production in the green house ponds due to retaining day light temperature by polyethylene sheet. Results from the present experiment indicated that greenhouse technique can be suitable for the nursing and management of early produced larvae of Thai pangas with proper growth and good survival rate.