Aquaculture 532 (2021) 736078 Available online 21 October 2020 0044-8486/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Impact of stocking density on growth, feed utilization and survival of cage reared minor carp, Labeo bata (Hamilton, 1822) in Maithon reservoir, India Gunjan Karnatak, Basanta Kumar Das * , Puthiyottil Mishal, Tasso Tayung, Suman Kumari, Uttam Kumar Sarkar, Archan Kanti Das, Yusuf Ali ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata 700120, India A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Cage culture Diversifcation Labeo bata Stocking density Growth Survival Condition factor ABSTRACT The present study was carried out to evaluate the effects of stocking density on growth performance of stunted fngerlings of Labeo bata in cages for a period of 180 days, at Maithon reservoir, Jharkhand, India. L. bata (8.80 + 0.67 cm; 6.18 ± 1.32 g) were reared at three stocking densities of 50 fngerlings m 3 , 75 fngerlings m 3 , and 100 fngerlings m -3 in triplicates in Galvanized Iron (GI) cages. Fishes were fed with foating pelleted feed (CP: 32%, CL: 4%) @ 5–3% of the body weight twice a day. L. bata reared at density of 50 fngerlings m 3 showed signifcantly higher (p < 0.05) specifc growth rate (SGR) (1.08 ± 0.02) and survival (84%) than those reared at 75 fngerlings m 3 and 100 fngerlings m 3 . No signifcant differences (p > 0.05) in SGR were found between the densities 75 fngerlings m 3 and 100 fngerlings m 3 . The growth and survival were lowest at stocking density of 100 fngerlings m 3 . Feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein effciency ratio (PER) were highest i.e. 1.95 ± 0.08 and 1.65 ± 0.06 respectively at 50 fngerlings m 3 . Condition factor (K) varied signifcantly (p < 0.05) among the treatments and was signifcantly better at 50 fngerlings m 3 after 180 days. Coeffcient of variation (CV) was lowest at 50 fngerlings m 3 , but did not vary signifcantly (p > 0.05) among the treatments. Length weight relationship exhibited positive allometric growth of L. bata in cages. In spite of higher biomass produced at higher densities, the beneft cost ratio (BCR) was highest at stocking density of 50 fngerlings m 3 (1.57). Overall, our results indicate that L. bata exhibit better growth and condition at lower stocking density indicating that higher densities negatively affect the growth. The fsh in cages exhibited growth comparable to ponds and open waters. It can be concluded that the stocking density of 50 fngerlings m 3 is the most desirable and economic for L. bata fngerlings to achieve table size in the cage culture system. 1. Introduction Cage culture technology can enhance the fsh production from inland open waters especially the vast reservoir resources. Cage culture in underutilized water bodies can aid in bridging the demand supply gap of quality animal protein and provide livelihood to resource poor fshers in developing countries (Hassan et al., 2017). India has vast reservoir re- sources (3.5 million ha) with enormous potential to increase the fsh production through expansion of cage culture technology (Sarkar et al., 2018). Cage culture offers to develop new skills among fshers and promote entrepreneurship to enhance their income besides ensuring the demand for quality animal protein. In India, several freshwater species have been experimented in cages. These include Indian major carps (IMCs) (Catla catla, Labeo rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala), Chinese carps (Cte- nopharyngodon idella, Cyprinus carpio sp.), catfshes (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, Clarias magur) mahseers (Tor putitora, Tor khudree) freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) and monosex Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) (Bhowmick and Das, 2011). However, so far in India, only Pangasius, P. hypophthalmus is being cultured commercially in cages (Sharma et al., 2016). Pangasius holds good market demand mostly in Northern part of India and rapid expansion of its culture has led to price crash affecting proftability (Krishna et al., 2011). There is an immediate need for diversifcation with commercially and regionally important species for increased adoptability and proftability of cage culture (Sarkar et al., 2018). Labeo bata commonly known as Bata is an indigenous cyprinid known for its taste and fetches high price in the market (Chakraborty and Mirza, 2007). It inhabits water bodies of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Myanmar and Pakistan and is an economically important species for small scale fsheries in Indian subcontinent (Rema and Ali, 2013). It has * Corresponding author. E-mail address: basantadas@yahoo.com (B.K. Das). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Aquaculture journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aquaculture https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2020.736078 Received 14 August 2020; Received in revised form 23 September 2020; Accepted 17 October 2020