EFFECT OF FEEDING PATTERN AND COMPOSITION ON CARP PRODUCTION IN SMALL FAMILY FARMS

This research was conducted in Jableh area of Lattakia Governorate (Syrian coastal zone) in order to study the effect of feeding pattern used on some growth and productivity indicators of common carp fish. Thirty family farms were studied, divided according to the nature of the food provided to them into: farms that depend on manufactured commercial feed (MCF), farms that depend entirely on household waste, and farms that depend on MCF and household waste together. Daily, relative, specific growth rate, feed conversion rate, feed conversion efficiency and survival rate were studied. Completely randomized design was used, and Correlations among studied parameters was estimated using Pearson coefficient of correlation. Results showed that the daily growth rate of farms that use MCF (1.94) was superior to those that use household waste (1.27) and a mixture of household waste and MCF (1.34). The MCF achieved the highest weight gain (349 g) from the performance of the rest of the food types, which did not show statistically significant differences between them. The type of feed did not affect the survival rate, which ranged between 95.7% and 99.4%. The feed conversion ratio was 3.54 in the case of MCF, and the feed conversion efficiency was 516.3%. There was no significant correlation between productivity (kg/pond) and average fish weight, daily, relative and qualitative growth rate, as well as with weight gain, while a significant correlation was found between productivity and survival rate (r). = 0.68 *) in manufactured feed farms. A strong significant correlation was found between productivity, pond area and number of fingerlings (r = 0.79 *) in processed fodder farms. It is recommended to use a number of fingerlings commensurate with the area of ​​the ponds and the amount of feed provided to obtain good quality fish. Fingerlings weighing less than 200 grams must be grown.