Abstract
Coastal homestead ponds are flooded during the rainy season and only hold water for five to six months. For coastal rural people, these ponds have a substantial impact on household nutrition and income generation. However, choosing the right culture techniques, stocking density, and seed size are necessary for fish aquaculture to be effective in this sort of seasonal pond. Hence, an adaptive field experiment was conducted to reveal the growth performance, yield and cost-benefit using advanced carp fingerling at different stocking densities in homestead ponds. Advanced fingerlings of Gibelion catla, Labeo rohita, Cirrhinus cirrhosus, and Labeo calbasu with the mean individual stocking weight of 243 +/- 1.87 g, 223.56 +/- 2.35 g, 155.89 +/- 1.69 g, and 158.72 +/- 1.35 g, respectively, were stocked at three different stocking densities, e.g., 825 kg ha(-1) in T1, 560 kg ha(-1) in T2 and 370 kg ha(-1) in T3 and reared for 5 months. Homemade supplementary feed with protein content of 24.25% was supplied twice daily. The specific growth rate (SGR) was recorded highest at T3 for all the cultured species as L. rohita (1.15 +/- 0.01% day(-1)), followed by G. catla (1.12 +/- 0.004% day(-1)), L. calbasu (1.09 +/- 0.01% day(-1)), and C. cirrhosus (0.98 +/- 0.002% day(-1)), respectively. An inverse relationship was detected between fish growth and stocking density for all treatments. A similar pattern was observed in the survival rate, where reduced survival rates were recorded at T1 for all species. Significant variation (p < 0.05) was found among the treatments in terms of final weight, SGR, and survival rate. Economics of the carp polyculture also showed the highest net benefit (2609.77 +/- 2.02 USD ha(-1)) and benefit-cost ratio (2.06 +/- 0.002) at T3. Rearing of fish at 370 kg ha(-1) stocking density yielded 129.21% and 110.96% higher production in T3 than T1 and T2, respectively. Overall, T3 treatment was more appropriate than T1 and T2 due to its low FCR, low investment but high survival rate, and net return. Therefore, stocking homestead ponds with advanced carp fingerling with a density of 370 kg per ha can be suggested as for increasing fish production and benefit in the homestead ponds of coastal rural area. In addition, further research is recommended to find out the effects of feeding and sources of seeds on the production performances.