Successful research on dolphin breeding techniques

The Science and Technology Council of An Giang province has just accepted the research project "Artificial breeding techniques for dolphins in An Giang province," chaired by Associate Professor - Doctor Duong Nhut Long, Can Tho University.

The project was carried out over three years, from May 2010 to December 2013 and was officially accepted in April 2014.

The objective of the project is to develop and transfer the technical process of producing dolphin breeds that achieve technical specifications of 50% or more maturity; fertilization rate of 50-60%; hatching rate of 60-70%; survival rate to fingerlings of 20-30%; fingerling size of 3-5cm/fish.

During the implementation process, the project studied the biological characteristics of dolphins, techniques for raising dolphins to sexual maturity in ponds and cages, technical measures to stimulate artificial reproduction of dolphins, and techniques for raising dolphins from fry to fingerlings.

Research results show that in the natural environment, fish reproduce from June to August every year. The sexual maturity coefficient in dolphins is low, averaging 2.4%; the absolute reproduction of dolphins is 4,220 eggs/female fish and the relative reproduction reaches 185,717 eggs/kg/female fish.

In the rearing conditions in net stage (in ponds) and cages (on rivers), the maturity coefficient was lower with an absolute fecundity of 3,773 eggs/female fish and a relative fecundity of 128,000 eggs/kg/female fish.

For dolphins raised with different types of food, the highest survival rate was 28.6%, after 45 days, the survival rate in the net stage reached 69%, especially in the period from 45-75 days old.

After the project's complete acceptance process, it was transferred to the An Giang Aquatic Breeding Center for widespread implementation in the community.

The dolphin fish (Botia modesta Bleeker) is a freshwater fish, about 3-5 cm long/fish, weighing about 40 g/fish, white meat, smooth skin, fragrant, fatty, can be processed into many dishes such as braised with pepper, sour soup, a specialty of the flood source area. This is a precious fish species whose production is gradually decreasing, the current price is from 150,000-180,000 VND/kg. The success of the project will contribute to protecting, maintaining and conserving this precious fish species./.

According to VNA