Effect of using different types of organic animal manure on plankton abundance, and on growth and survival of Tilapia rendalli (Boulenger) in ponds

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of using different types of organic manure on the plankton abundance, and growth and survival of Tilapia rendalli juveniles in ponds. Fish weighing 18.15±0.44 g were stocked into 12, 20 m2 ponds at 2 fish m-2 (40 fish pond -1). There were three replicate ponds per treatment (chicken manure, cattle manure, pig manure, and no-manure as a control). After 84 days the T. rendalli in the chicken manure treatment were significantly larger and had higher net annual yields than those in the cattle manure, pig manure and no-manure treatments. The survival rates were not significantly different across the treatments. Significantly higher amounts of chlorophyll a and higher numbers of zooplankton were found in ponds fertilized with the chicken manure treatment. The overall results obtained in this study suggest that the use of chicken manure produces better results than cattle and pig manure treatments on unfertilized ponds. © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.