Dr. Surjya Narayan Datta, Assistant Professor , College of Fisheries, earned a Research Project entitled “Standardisation of breeding and rearing technology of high value vulnerable catfish Pangasius pangasius under agro-climatic condition of Punjab” from University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi for a period of three years, with a total budget of Rs 10.36 lakhs. Dr Ajeet Singh and Dr Abhed Pandey are the co- investigators of the said project, which has been designed to standardize the breeding and seed production protocols for one of the high value Pangas catfish species, Pangasius pangasius in the State. Dr. Asha Dhawan, Dean College of Fisheries said that Pangas catfish is a potential candidate species for not only aquaculture diversification, but also for significant productivity enhancement, as it has been tested successfully under field condition by the University, with an average productivity of 7.0 ton/acre in a short period of 6 months, which is 3 times higher than the productivity of traditionally reared freshwater carp fishes. She further added that Pangas catfish has great market demand in Punjab due to absence of intramuscular spines and it is being transported all the way from Andhra Pradesh and sold as hot cakes in various fish markets of the state.
Dr. S N Datta told that the climatic condition of the State is suitable for Pangas culture for 6-7 months from April to November, as it is a cold sensitive species and does not survive at temperature below 160 C in winters. Presently seed of Pangas catfish has to be transported from far off state like Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Dr. Datta told that university has been successful in rearing healthy broodstock of Pangas catfish through overwintering under poly house conditions during winters and will be conducting field trials to standardize breeding and seed production technology for Pangas catfish to work out the feasibilities of developing Pangas hatchery within the state, for the convenience of the farmers.
>Dr. Dhawan congratulated the scientists on their achievement and said that the project will certainly help in opening a new window for aquaculture diversification and productivity enhancement without putting any extra pressure on our already depleting land and water resources, which is the need of the time with special reference to food security.
