Or what we have learned about the prospects for trout farming.
Since ancient times, man has successfully traded in hunting and gathering. And these seemingly limitless possibilities were given to him by nature-mother from her bounty. In many parts of the world, people continue to engage in these crafts. And everything would be fine, but with the growth of the world's population, it only becomes more and more risky to take from nature. And in order not to completely exterminate natural resources "to naught", progressive and proactive enthusiasts began to think about an alternative to hunting and self-supporting their existence with food. And in this case, new technologies of artificial food production come out on top. In this case, the word "artificial" does not mean something not real, unnatural, but means the production of something in artificially created conditions, and not in the natural environment. We would like to briefly tell our readers about one of these advanced technologies.
It all started about seven years ago, when the fish farmer Ibragim Khalilov, already a specialist with 26 years of experience in warm-water fish farming, thought about trout. At that time, he thought about trout as a healthy food product and how to make it available to the general consumer. Of course, as a fish farmer, he knew what kind of trout should be raised for these purposes. You will learn more about this later.
All of his character and passion for what he loved could be seen on his face when, at the next meeting, he talked about a trip to the mountains, in the company of very respectable people. He talked about how his friends, upon arrival at the place, talked with selflessness, preparing for the campaign and clinging to equipment and equipment about the delights of hunting and mountain landscapes. But Ibrahim, noticing a trout in a small creek of a flowing mountain stream, kindly refused the offer to hunt and stayed by the water. Urban thrill hunters soon disappeared according to their interests, and Ibrahim, as if spellbound, sat for several hours by the water looking at a fish, perhaps one of the most beautiful in Uzbekistan - brook trout, whose brown-green back, drifting in the creek, at times passed it off as a piece of wood floating in the water column.
Brook trout does not shimmer with silver like other salmonids, but it has golden gill covers, and its torpedo-like body, strewn with numerous dark and red spots, creating variegation dulls visual vigilance. It is not always seen in the water and, therefore, in many places it is also called a pestle. Its color often varies depending on the color of the water, soil, season, food and other local factors. Speaking about the commercial qualities, it should be noted that it has a lower intensity of growth and fertility compared to the original marine relative.
But the story about the local trout is a small digression, which is only appropriate for comparing the advantages of one trout species over another. The heroine of our day is the rainbow trout, about which, in fact, the story itself.
On June 21, the SGP team, together with the Institute of the Gene Pool of Plant and Animal World of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Council of Farmers of Uzbekistan, held in Tashkent a practical training on the technology of intensive aqua culture on the topic "TROUT BREEDING - A PROSPECTIVE KIND OF BUSINESS FOR FARMERS OF UZBEKISTAN." Many probably wondered how fish farming technology is possible in the city? Anticipating such questions, it was decided to organize a demonstration of this technology on the territory of one of the city's industrial enterprises with a demonstration of biotechnology, a story about the advantages and wisdom of trout farming.
Bakhtiyor Kamilov during his presentation.
The technology of trout breeding was proposed as an innovative practice for the development of fish farming in modern conditions of Uzbekistan by the scientists of the Institute and being, in fact, a highly efficient technology for the production of fish products, it was supported by the GEF SGP, after which, in March 2011, work on the project began. The project is called Demonstration Intensive Trout Farming as the best practice for the development of fish farming in the foothill and mountain regions of Uzbekistan in the face of climate change. Climate change and intensive fish farming? Somehow it doesn't fit, you might think. The fact is that this technology is ideal for foothill regions with a constant availability of clean and cold water. As you know, more than half of the population of Uzbekistan lives in the foothill zone, the consequences of climate change will affect the already arid areas of the foothill zones, and in such regions trout farming technology will be a profitable technology. Moreover, in conditions of a shortage of water and land resources - intensive trout breeding. With this system, water will flow through the fish tanks and be directed further without changing its quantity, without losses for irrigation. At the same time, pools that are small in volume will have a high performance.
In light of the tasks defined by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On measures to deepen demonopolization and privatization in the fishing industry" dated August 13, 2003 to increase the production of fish products in artificial and natural reservoirs using available opportunities, forage farming technology is a concrete example of effective work carried out in fish farming industry, which opens up new opportunities in this area.
According to the specialists of the scientific and experimental station for the development of fish farming in the Republic of Uzbekistan, at present there are more than two thousand enterprises and farms for fish breeding in the country. More than ten types of fish are grown in them, in particular, significant work is being done on growing trout, the meat of which is tasty and very useful for humans.
The main territory of the project is located in the Kibray district, but here, on the territory of the former Zenith plant, now a joint venture, the water is located close to the surface and, therefore, it was decided to build a farm here. And this model has proven to be very successful. In addition, this fact made it possible to demonstrate the possibility and advantages of doing such a business within the city.
Many were waiting for this training. People came to learn about the technology and see live trout. There were more applicants and we have already started enrollment for the next training, which we are planning to hold this year on the topic “Intensive aqua culture - fish farming in the RAS (Closed Water Supply Installation). The seminar was attended by farmers, representatives of ministries and departments, NGOs, various spheres of activity and business structures, as well as journalists.
Fish farming is an example of an effective business and therefore, entrepreneurs were more interested in technology, and a guest from Surkhandarya came from the farming community - Akhmad Tangrikulov, head of the Akhmad Nur farm, who just a year ago organized his own farm for breeding rabbits and fish farming. Knowing about the great work of the PMG in this direction, he came to listen to specialists and make business acquaintances for the future.
“Now we are raising rabbits on our farm, and it’s too early to talk about large-scale conveyor production. Only about 1000 heads, but we all know the fertility of rabbits and not far off when our productivity will grow significantly. But I am very interested in everything related to fish farming as a highly effective modern technology, because fish, along with rabbit meat, is a healthy food product. And in the conditions of our traditional diet, the diet of which necessarily includes lamb and beef, and besides, many dishes are usually fried - the production of fish products in order to increase their competitiveness in the meat market will provide a healthy alternative to the population and a good profit, which will go to the development of production ... The more fish there will be, the more accessible it will be to the population. From this, I think everyone benefits, - says Ahmad. - We have a lot of land, unsuitable and not in demand for agricultural activities, mainly foothills and lands with signs of degradation, but still there are excellent opportunities to establish fish farming and start production of fish products. Eco-friendly production, which is fish farming, will help to improve the environment and conserve natural resources. After all, we take care of our land, we work on it, we feed our families and fellow villagers, ”concluded Ahmad.
After the theoretical part of the training, which was presented by Bakhtiyor Kamilov, the participants were invited to walk all the way to the farm, where Ibrahim Khalilov first of all showed the incubation pavilion, in which cages with trout larvae that had just recently hatched are located. ... The cage is a rectangular box with sides and a net fixed along the bottom contour, on which the larvae lie in one layer. Oxygenated fresh water is constantly circulating through the net and the larvae. Participants with undisguised enthusiasm and interest looked at how this whole economy was arranged. This is actually very interesting. Several floors of cages, pipes, overflowing from different levels and circulating water. A whole laboratory for creating life. After the incubator, everyone went after Ibrahim to watch adult trout. It was very pleasant in the heat of the day to enter a cool room, where, with the noise of the water falling from a height and circulating this way and that, and the sight of several pools with live fish, it was breathtaking.
In a trout incubator
Trout cradle (nursery prelarvae)
The date of the training was not chosen by chance. Indeed, it was these days in the fish farm of Ibragim Khalilov, there were two generations of trout, or rather, two herds of different ages. Although, the language does not dare to call a herd micro-trout, scientifically speaking - prelarvae, which lie in heaps and twitch in their nursery-cages. In general, there is a marketable trout (8 months old) on that farm, which is frolic in artificial concrete pools under streams of cool and oxygenated water. Soon, the adult herd will be sent to the counters of city supermarkets, and the young will move to the pools, and a new cycle will begin.
Farming fish fully or partially under artificial conditions in water, the temperature of which does not exceed + 18 ° C, is called cold water fish farming. Objects of cold-water fish farming grow in cold water (in contrast to warm-water objects, which can overwinter in cold water, but grow after the water warms up above +16 - 18 ° C). In the literature, the term "cold water fish farming" is often replaced by "trout farming". Several salmon species are currently bred in cold water aquaculture around the world, and global production is dominated by the salmon family rainbow trout. Rainbow trout have been introduced, developed and bred on almost all continents.
Farmed adult rainbow trout
Rainbow trout are highly regarded for their dietary qualities. This fish received the name rainbow for its silvery color with black spots on the back and a rainbow stripe along the lateral line. This stripe is especially prominent in males during puberty.
Trout is a predatory fish and by its nature a punchy fish, like a torpedo adapted to overcome strong currents. In ponds, she eats a variety of foods, consumes caddis flies, beetles, dragonflies, small frogs, and mosquito larvae. In the second year of life, it consumes small weedy fish, mainly pelagic, that is, living in the upper layers of the waters.
The natural habitats of the rainbow trout in North America begin north of 64º N. (rivers Ugashik and Ejegik (Alaska), southern tributaries of the Kuskokwim River, the Mackenzie River Basin, the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands) and extend southward to 46º N (rivers in northern Mexico); from the Pacific coast of America to the east to 175 ° W.
The high efficiency of artificial breeding of trout has contributed to its widespread dispersal for aquaculture purposes and now it lives on 5 continents, from the Arctic Circle to the south of Argentina, regardless of geographical position, up to an altitude of 4500 m above sea level. Trout is cultivated in more than 115 countries around the world. The total production of rainbow trout in aquaculture is about 100 thousand tons per year.
Trout farming is a highly intensive branch of fish farming, regardless of the form of an artificial reservoir, be it a pond, a flowing pool or a cage, which, if properly managed and depending on the amount of water, allows to obtain a large amount of fish per unit area.
Fish is a large deficit in Uzbekistan. If we take into account the value of fish as a food product (the minimum medical norm of fish consumption to ensure a healthy generation is 12 kg / person / year, the actual consumption in Uzbekistan is about 1 kg / person / year), then the elimination of this deficit has the most important social and medical significance in country. This is the opinion of the initiators of our project.
“There are pond farms in Uzbekistan that raise silver carp, carp and grass carp. They have an average long-term productivity of 1 t / ha (or 1000 kg: 15,000 m3 = 0.07 kg / m3). That technology can be improved by planting more carp and carp and adding compound feed. Then there will be an average productivity of 2 t / ha (or 0.13 kg / m3). We have an intensive technology and we are confidently getting 20 - 40 kg / m3. Good aerators are needed to increase productivity. Then it will be 40-50 kg / m3 "- says one of the responsible specialists for the project, an employee of the Institute of the Gene Pool of Plant and Animal World of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, ichthyologist, Ph.D. Bakhtiyor Kamilov.
B. Kamilov also noted that in order to increase fish productivity when raising trout in feeding ponds, carp can be planted as forage fish, the growing fry of which, feeding on plankton, become good food for trout.
Why Rainbow Trout?
“Trout is a predator and, like many predatory fish, has a very short digestive system, unlike herbivorous fish species. Those. when a trout swallows prey, the second enters the stomach of the trout and the digestion process begins, while in herbivores, the same silver carp, taking into account its long digestive system, the colossal energy and nutrients obtained from food are largely spent on its own digestion. And that is why, trout quickly gains weight and reaches the marketable state, which is certainly of economic interest. 85% of the weight of the fish is fillet, i.e. the skeleton and entrails of fish account for only 15% of the weight. Herbivorous fish have much less meat. It's simple. This is a matter of business ”- B. Kamilov answered.
Native to North America, trout is an important business and ecotourism destination in many regions of the world due to its adaptability, high feed intake, fertility and profitability. This fish, mainly found in mountainous and foothill areas, in cold water, can be grown even in winter. The favorable geographic location of our country, rich experience in the development of fish farming will make it possible to widely organize trout farming and expand the production of export-oriented products.
The main goal of fish farming - fish farming in artificial conditions - is profit. Practice shows that in the prime cost of fish, feed costs are the main expense item, and their share is 50-70%. The more rationally the feed is used, the more profitable the fish farming. The most important issue in the rational feeding of fish is the determination of the optimal diet (daily feeding dose), which depends on a number of factors, first of all, on the water temperature. There is an optimum growth temperature for every fish species. The closer on a particular day the water temperature is to the optimal value for growth, the higher (within certain limits) the dose of feed and ... the faster the growth of fish. For example, carp weighing 200 grams at a water temperature of 15 ° C balanced feed is applied at the rate of 1% of the biomass of fish in the reservoir, and at 24 ° C - 3%. It can be seen that the differences are almost 3 times, and fish in water with different temperatures grow slower or faster - 3 times.
There are several very interesting consequences from the above. It turns out that under the conditions of Uzbekistan, carp, silver carp, grass carp in open water bodies can grow well for 3 months a year (when in stagnant water bodies in the plains the water warms up more than 22 ° C), it is acceptable to grow - another 2-3 months (18-22 ° C) , grow very slowly (above 14 -18 ° C) - 1-2 months, and not grow (ie overwinter) - 5-6 months. Those. open reservoirs for growing silver carp, carp and grass carp "do not work" for almost six months! And this is an objective reality.
Are there any fish species for which the temperature regime of our reservoirs is closer to optimal growth? Another interesting consequence is the answer to this question. According to long-term data, the water temperature in the rivers and canals of the mountainous and foothill regions of Uzbekistan during the year does not rise above 18 ° C. This is understandable, the rivers of the Aral Sea basin originate in high mountains and are fed by glaciers or snows (precipitation has little effect on river flow), and the speed of water flow in our rivers is high. Even in the hottest summer heat, the water of rivers and canals up to the middle reaches does not have time to warm up. Let us cite as an example the annual dynamics of water temperature in the Chirchik River in the section between the cities of Tashkent and Chirchik.
Dynamics of average monthly water temperature in open reservoirs near Tashkent.ПОДПИСЬ
For which fish is water temperature up to 18 ° C good? For cold water fish! For trout! It can be seen that with proper feeding, trout will grow throughout the year, with a rapid growth of 6-7 months. Isn't it a strong difference from the growth opportunities of silver carp and carp. Meanwhile, in the foothill zone of Uzbekistan, which occupies about 25% of the Republic's area, about 75% of the total population lives. This includes all regions of the Fergana Valley, Tashkent, Samarkand, Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya regions.
Now let's consider lowland water bodies, including lakes and ponds with stagnant water that is well warmed up in summer. And this is the rest of the republic. In such reservoirs, already in October, the water temperature cools below 18 ° C and warms up above 18 ° C only in the second half of April - early May. It turns out that these reservoirs for the growth of trout can be used for 6-7 months, including for rapid growth - 3 months. In the lowland areas, in terms of the duration of the period for the growth of trout during the year, the schedule is completely similar to that for carp, silver carp and grass carp. In other words, trout can also be bred in lowland water bodies throughout Uzbekistan with the same efficiency as carp fish.
However, there is a significant limitation - there is little knowledge of trout farming in Uzbekistan. Indeed, fish farmers of the republic were taught carp farming, and this is a form of warm-water fish farming. At the same time, extensive and semi-intensive fish farming was taught. In extensive fish farming, fish feed only on organisms of the natural food supply in the pond, the development of which is stimulated by the application of fertilizers. In semi-intensive conditions, fish feed on both organisms of the natural food base and supplementary food, i.e. fish farmers apply fertilizers and compound feed. But, the fish productivity of such types of breeding is limited by naturally occurring ecological processes and is a maximum of 0.13 and 0.26 kg / m3 of water, respectively (in terms of this is 10 and 30 c / ha). Meanwhile, world fish farming, including trout farming, confidently reaches 40 kg / m3 and more, and this is hundreds of times higher. And our fish farmers, as well as the teachers who train them, as well as researchers, specialists in fish diseases and others, need to overcome themselves, go over a difficult psychological barrier - to learn (not to be afraid) to grow fish with such high densities.
Other farm inhabitants
On the territory of this farm, another fish-breeding technology is also functioning, the so-called technology of raising fish in the RAS (Closed water supply installation). According to this technology, African catfish are grown here, for the favorable growth of which the technology provides all the conditions. Although these catfish are foreigners, they do not pose a threat to local fish species. If there is a fear that they may accidentally get into our rivers and reservoirs and displace our fish, then we need not worry about this. In view of their heat-loving nature, they simply will not survive our winters. But in more detail, we will tell you about catfish and other heat-loving fish in our next story about another technology, briefly called RAS. We are planning to conduct a training on this topic this year.
African catfish in the YZB pool
Do I need to move to a new technology? What other practical steps have been taken in Uzbekistan in this direction
“But, firstly, it is necessary to make the transition, because it is very promising, secondly, because there is a shortage of water resources in the country, and in the third it is not very difficult. Our experience has shown this clearly. We found information in the literature, analyzed it, prepared a theoretical base for ourselves, and on an empty plot near Tashkent have already helped build several trout farms with a nursery and a swimming pool economy. In 2008-2010, the NT Fish Farm fish farm established a regular supply of fertilized eggs from Seattle (and this is the most distant end of the Earth in time zones from Tashkent, for clarity - on the other side of the planet), its incubation and growing from caviar to marketable fish in 6-7 months. The next project was the creation of a trout farm near Gazalkent under the Small Grants Program of the Global Environment Facility. By the time the book was published, 2 more trout farms had been built, ”Kamilov said.
“It’s probably a bit premature to write a textbook with such little work experience (only 4-5 years). But, on the one hand, we have more than 30 years of experience in fishery science and in practical fish farming, we have been preparing for trout for several years, and on the other hand, we want to quickly help the development of fish farming in the republic in the most disruptive direction. And we are fully confident in the provisions set forth in this book, ”said Kamilov's colleague Ibrahim Khalilov.
In our manual, the biotechnology of growing trout in the conditions of Uzbekistan is presented in an accessible form. This training manual can and should be used by farmers who are ready to start trout production, but it is also designed for students studying ichthyology, primarily fish farming, as well as for fish farmers, including potential ones, and other fish industry specialists. The manual was written for Uzbekistan, but it may be useful for other countries of the Aral Sea basin.
After the authors told about their book, we talked with one of the training participants.
“I am very interested in modern fish farming technologies and I have long dreamed of getting to this kind of training,” one of the training participants, an entrepreneur from the Urtachirchik region, Salim Soatov, shared with us. - My partners and I are planning to start trout farming in the Urtachirchik region, at the confluence of the Angren river into the Tuyabuguz reservoir (popularly known as Tashmore). The place is already there. Here at the training I met Ibragim Khalilov and told him about our plans with partners. He promised to come to the place, see the conditions, set the direction and give his recommendations, - S. Soatov said.
What problem can you face while organizing a trout farm ?, - S. Soatov was asked a question.
“In our opinion, feed can be a problem. Now Ibrahim Khalilov uses imported Dutch-made feed. They are great, balanced, and cost as much as $ 4 per kilogram. This, of course, is very expensive for a young business, but on the other hand, there are no other feeds, and trout will not eat anything at all and it is not worth risking trying to feed it in the wrong way. Ibrahim and Bakhtiyor want to prepare their own feed for trout, and when the recipe is finally ready, they will try these feeds and after all the necessary formalities, which they will complete, and we can think about our fishing industry, added entrepreneur Soatov.
We can safely conclude that trout is currently the most promising fish farming object in Uzbekistan!
Below, for your attention and use, are given: Presentation from practical training on trout farming, Economic calculations for technology and a working version of the book on trout farming. The final version of the book, after its printing and publication, will be available in electronic form on our website in the section "Publications", in the subsection "Publications of the PMGEF in Uzbekistan"
We wish you pleasant reading and productive thoughts.
- Download Presentation "Training courses on trout breeding in Uzbekistan" (file size 1.39 MB)
