Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:01:12.979Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Energy Budget for a Rainbow Trout Farm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Tony J. Pitcher
Tony J. Pitcher
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, New University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

An industrial energy-budget for a Rainbow Trout farm shows that 93% of the energy costs of production are incurred in feeding the fish, seven-tenths of which is due to fishnieal incorporated in the food pellets. Only one-tenth of the input energy is converted into fish, but the energy subsidy of the farming operation compares favourably with conventional fishing and is 423 input megajoules per kg of output fish protein (55 MJ per kg wet-weight of fish landed). However, if the Trout could be fed on a diet composed of suitable vegetable protein, this performance would be improved to an overall conversion efficiency of one-third, and a subsidy of about 160 MJ per kg. A smaller but similar improvement could result if the Peruvian anchovy fishery regained its former production level.

As these improved energy-costs are comparable with those of crops of potatoes, and with those of bread and milk production, a 2-men Rainbow Trout farm yielding 25 tonnes per year on one hectare would become an attractive protein-producing enterprise in localities where the necessary water-supply is available.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , Spring 1977 , pp. 59 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altman, P. L. & Dittmer, D. S. (1968). Metabolism. Hand book of the American Society for Experimental Biology, Bethesda, Maryland: xix + 737 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Blaxter, K. L. (1975). The energetics of British agriculture. Biologist, 22, pp. 14–8.Google Scholar
Cho, C. Y., Bayley, H. S. & Slinger, S. J. (1974). Partial replacement of herring meal with soyabean meal and other changes in a diet for Rainbow Trout. J. Fish. Res. Bd Canada, 31, pp. 1,523–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowey, C. B. (1975). Aspects of protein utilization by fish. Proc. Nutr. Soc, 34, pp. 57–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Culley, M. (1971). The Pilchard (Biology and Exploitation). Pergamon, Oxford: ix + 242 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Elliot, J. M. (1975). The growth of Brown Trout fed on reduced rations. J. Anim. Ecol., 44, pp. 823–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fidgeon, S. (1972). The Development, Feasibility, and Economics of Rainbow Trout Farming in Northern Ireland. Govt of N. Ireland Department of Agriculture, Belfast: 11 pp.Google Scholar
Garret, M. K. & Allen, M. D. B. (1976). Photosynthetic purification of the liquid phase of animal slurry. Environmental Pollution, 10, pp. 127–39.Google Scholar
Gjedrem, T. (1975). Possibilities for genetic gain in salmonids. Aquaculture, 6, pp. 23–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halver, J. G., Coates, J. A., Deyoe, C. W., Dupree, H. K., Post, G. & Sinnhuber, R. O. (1973). Nutrient Requirements for Trout, Salmon, and Catfish. Nutrient Requirements of Domestic Animals No. 11, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.: 57 pp.Google Scholar
Hickling, C. F. (1968). The Farming of Fish. Pergamon, Oxford: 88 pp.Google Scholar
Hirst, E. (1974). Total Energy Use for Commercial Aviation in the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pub. ORNC-NSF-6868, Tennessee: 13 pp.Google Scholar
Holliday, F. G. T. (Ed.) (1975). Limiting Factors in Freshwater Fish Farming in the U.K. Report of Discussion Meeting of Institute of Fisheries Management, London: 6 pp., mimsogr.Google Scholar
Ivleva, I. V. (1973). The Mass Culture of Invertebrates. Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem: 147 pp. (Russian text published 1969, Moscow.)Google Scholar
Kihlberg, R. (1972). The microbe as a source of food. Ann. Rev. Microbiol., 26, pp. 427–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leach, G. (1975). Energy and Food Production. International Institute for Environment and Development, London: 151 pp.Google Scholar
Leach, G. & Slesser, M. (1973). Energy Equivalents of Network Inputs to Food Producing Systems. Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland: 38 pp.Google Scholar
Macer, C. T. (1974). Industrial fisheries. Pp. 193–222 in Sea Fisheries Research (Ed. Harden-Jones, F.). Elek Books, London: xvii + 510 pp.Google Scholar
Macleod, M. G. (1975). Effects of Salinity and Diet on the Nutritional Physiology and Alimentary Canal Histology of the Rainbow Trout. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Stirling, Scotland: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Noble, R. (1975). Growing fish in sewage. New Scientist, 67, pp. 259–61.Google Scholar
Odum, H. T. (1971). Environment, Power, and Society. Wiley, New York: xii + 366 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Perelman, M. J. (1972). Farming with petroleum. Environment, 14, pp. 8–13.Google Scholar
Petrusewicz, K. & Macfadyen, A. (1970). Productivity of Terrestrial Animals. I.B.P. Handbook No. 13, Blackwell, Oxford: 190 pp.Google Scholar
Pyke, M. (1970). Man and Food. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London: 256 pp.Google Scholar
Reichle, G. von & Wunder, W. (1974). Can the Rainbow Trout use proteins of plants? Arch. Hydrobiol., 74, pp. 468–72.Google Scholar
Rumsey, G. L. & Ketola, H. G. (1975). Amino-acid supplemsn-tation in diets of salmon and soya-bean meal for Rainbow Trout. J. Fish. Res. Bd Canada, 32, pp. 422–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slesser, M. (1973). Energy subsidy as a criterion in food policy planning. J. Sc. Food Agric., 24, p. 1, 193–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed