Vermiculture in Egypt: - FAO - Regional Office for the Near East and

were ranged from 3.04 to 252.0 g in different treatments (50 kg P2O5 content basis)
(Table 6.5).
Table 6.5. Average values* (±SD) of physio-chemical parameters of water, primary
productivity of phytoplankton and final body weights and fish production of
Cyprinus carpio in various treatments.
Parameters Control (T-1) Compost
(T-2)
59
Diammonium
phosphate
(T-3)
Vermicompost
(T-4)
Temperature (˚C) 30.0 ± 4.3 30.0 ± 5.1 30.0 ± 4.9 30.00 ± 5.5
pH 7.06 ± 0.4 7.26 ± 0.6 7.14 ± 0.1 7.43 ± 0.6
Dissolved oxygen (mg l -1 ) 6.01 ± 0.9 6.21 ± 1.1 7.74 ± 1.0 7.02 ± 1.2
Ortho phosphate (mg l -1 ) 0.09 ± 0.09 0.19 ± 0.06 0.52 ± 0.10 0.30 ± 0.14
Organic phosphate (mg l -1 ) 0.08 ± 0.19 0.27 ± 0.15 0.20 ± 0.14 0.35 ± 0.21
Total phosphate (mg l -1 ) 0.10 ± 0.10 0.66 ± 0.16 0.88 ± 0.25 0.68 ± 0.21
NO3–N (mg l -1 ) 0.06 ± 0.08 0.12 ± 0.06 0.28 ± 0.03 0.16 ± 0.04
Total inorganic N (mg l -1 ) 0.06 ± 0.005 0.40 ± 0.02 0.80 ± 0.04 0.62 ± 0.03
Total inorganic nitrogen (N)/total 1.6 0.61 0.90 0.91
phosphate (P)
Community respiration (mg C m -2 h -
1
)
20.13 ±±9.3 28.13 ± 12.5 35.79 ± 18.2 38.58 ± 13.1
Final mean body weight (g) 18.24 ± 2.3 22.25 ± 3.6 39.50 ± 4.3 45.77 ± 3.9
Fertilizer/manure added (g) 0 252 3.04 99
Stocking density 10.00 10.00 10.00 10.00
Initial average individual length 1.40 ± 0.02 1.40 ± 0.02 1.40 ± 0.02 1.40 ± 0.02
(cm)
Initial average individual weight (g) 2.40 ± 0.01 2.40 ± 0.03 2.40 ± 0.04 2.40 ± 0.02
Final average individual length (cm) 4.20 ± 0.03 6.80 ± 0.06 7.60 ± 0.04 8.80 ± 0.07
Final average individual weight (g) 3.76 ± 0.01 8.29 ± 0.05 12.92 ± 0.03 16.76 ± 0.07
Growth increment (g fish -1 day -1 ) 0.0151 0.0654 0.1169 0.1595
Production of fish (kg ha -1 90 day-1) 385.92 1,952.64 3080.45 3,970.56
Total weight gain (TWG) (g fish -1 ) 0.57 2.45 4.38 5.98
Survival (%) 85 88 87 90
*Each average value applies to 90 days samples.
Source: Chakrabarty et al. (2009).
Where:
Absolute growth (AG) = final body weight - initial body weight
Growth increment (GI) = final body weight - initial body weight /
number of culture days after fish introduction
Total weight gain (TWG) = final body weight - initial body weight /
initial body weight
The demand for organically cultured food for human consumption is increasing across
the globe and for this reason organic aquaculture is the need of the present time. Wide
variety of organic manures such as grass, leaves, sewage water, livestock manure,
domestic wastes, night soil and dried blood meal have been used.
6.4. Possibilities of worms as animal feed in Egypt:
For a long time, extensive fish farming was the type practiced in Egypt, where only
chemical and/or organic fertilizers were applied for promoting the natural productivity
of ponds. Agricultural by-products such as wheat bran and rice bran were used for
supplementation in some farms. As the technology of fish farming has developed,