| dc.description.abstract | The study was conducted to assess the production performance and economics between mixed-
sex and mono-sex tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. The experiment was carried out with two
treatments each with six replicates for a period of 99 days from 7 May to 12 August 2014, in 12
cages in a pond of Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet. In the first treatment (T1), mixed-sex
tilapia was stocked with a mean initial weight of 1.74 ± 0.44 g. In the second treatment (T2),
mono-sex male tilapia was stocked with a mean initial weight of 1.76 ± 0.48 g. Fish were fed at
the rate of 30% body weight (bw) initially and gradually decreased up to 4% bw until the end of
the study. Water parameters, viz. temperature, transparency, DO, pH, CO2, NH3, TDS, hardness
and nitrite were found within the range of fish farming. After 86 days and 99 days of culture
period, mono-sex male tilapia attained a significantly (P<0.05) higher mean final weight and
specific growth rate than mixed-sex tilapia. However, there was no significant (P>0.05)
difference of food conversion ratio, specific growth rate and survival values between the
treatments at the final harvest of study. The benefit-cost ratio was calculated as 1.47 and 1.59 for
mixed-sex and mono-sex tilapia, respectively. However, it was observed that there were no
significant differences of individual weight, gross yield and net yield of tilapia at 72 days
between two treatments. Thus the study suggest that mixed-sex tilapia can be cultured
economically like mono-sex tilapia until 72 days of culture period. | en_US |
