Integration of aquaculture with Makhana

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Integration of Carp culture with Makhana Integration of Carp culture with Makhana Integration of Carp culture with Makhana Integration of Carp culture with Makhana

((((Euryale ferox Euryale ferox Euryale ferox Euryale ferox Salisb.) Salisb.) Salisb.) Salisb.)

–––– A Route to Crop Diversification A Route to Crop Diversification A Route to Crop Diversification 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

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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 delicious fruit and is called different names in different

states.

Sanskrit - Makhann

Maithili - Makhan

Hindi - Makhana

Bengali - Mokhana

Gujrati - Makhanna

Marathi - Makhano

Asami - Nikori

Punjabi &

Kashmiri - Jewar

Orria - Kanti Padam

Telgu - 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

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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.

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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.

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The crop achieves maximum growth during April – June and called grand

growth stage. Flowering starts in May and flowering fruiting continue till

mid July.

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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.

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT NOV

DEC

Fish

Makhana

Integration

F

I

S H

G R O

W

T

H

F

I S

H G R

O

W T

H

G

er

min

ati

on

of

M

ak

h

an

a s

eed

s

Sp

rou

tin

g o

f

Lea

ves

Sto

ckin

g o

f

fin

ger

lin

gs

of

gra

ss c

arp

Tra

nsp

lan

tati

on

of

mak

ha

na

See

dli

ng

s

Maturation of

Leaves

Flowering and fruiting of

Makhana Crop

Cutting of Leaves

of Makhana

Ha

rvestin

g o

f

Ma

kh

an

a C

rop

Tota

l

Harv

esting

of F

ish

Stocking of fingerlings of

Fish

S E E D

S I N

T H

E

M U

D

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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Table: Production data of fish

Species No.

fingerlings stocked

Initial

wt. (Av. in

gm)

No. of fish

harvested

Growth

rate (Av. in

gm)

Total final

wt. (Kg) at harvesting

Survival

%

Catla

Rohu

Mrigal

Common

carp

Silver carp

Grass carp

280

210

350

420

70

70

20.6

21.3

23.6

29.5

17.8

26.9

265

200

340

400

60

55

554

500

723

717

666

581

147

100

246

287

40

32

94.6

95.2

97.1

95.2

85.7

78.5

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.

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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.) 1,000 2. Labour charges

(Transplanting of Makhana plantlets,

cutting of leaves, harvesting, poping, preparation and netting of fish). 90 man-days 7,000

3. Cost of fingerlings 1400 nos. 970

Total Expenditure 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.

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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) : 960-964.

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) : 117-120.

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.103-

106. 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).