The ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIBA) successfully bred grey mullet, a high-valued commercial brackishwater fish, for the first time in the country. The research was part of the blue revolution initiative of the government of India to increase fish production
K.K. Vijayan, director of ICAR-CIBA, highlighted the species’ versatility that it can be farmed in diverse farming systems like monoculture, polyculture and integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) with a potential output of four tons per hectare/crop with high profitability.
The center has been working in breeding grey mullet since 2015 and the successful breeding and larval production were achieved using pond reared broodstock in 2016-17. Vijayan said that the institute completed its third batch of hatchery-reared grey mullet fingerlings in the last season (December-January).
The center also released species-specific functional pelleted feeds for broodstock (Cephalus BroodPlus) and nursery (Cephalus NurseryPlus) developed by the nutrition division of the institute.
The first batch of hatchery-produced grey mullet seeds and species-specific feeds were distributed to farmers from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
