Aquaculture |

DEPARTMENT DETAILS:

The Department of Aquaculture came into being in 1988 with a staff strength of 12 teaching faculty and 10 non teaching staff. The Department is blessed with a freshwater farm complex comprising of 10 ponds and a reservoir of 2.7 ha that supplies water to all the ponds. There is a mariculture farm with 7 ponds covering an area of 0.7 ha which could be run with the subsoil saline water. The important infrastructure developed in the Department of Aquaculture include

Freshwater fish farm
Fish disease management section
Freshwater prawn hatchery and nursery
Ornamental fish culture unit
Fisheries Biotechnology Centre
Fish virology laboratory
Cryopreservation laboratory and Frozen sperm bank
Catfish hatchery with rearing ponds
Fish nutrition and water quality analysis laboratory
Cobia culture facility

Objectives and mandate

To offer courses in aquaculture and fisheries biotechnology subjects for undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D. students
To undertake research in organic fish farming
To develop biofeeds for culture of fishes and shrimps to study their efficiency and viability
To develop vaccines for shrimps
To carryout disease diagnosis and health management in fishes and shrimps
To produce disease resistant and fast growing hybrid fishes
To offer training programme in various disciplines of aquaculture to farmers, entrepreneurs, bankers, social service organisations, etc.
Dissemination of technology through extension materials books, booklets, articles etc

Education

The department offers both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes

B.F.Sc. – 12 Courses
M.F.Sc.(Aquaculture) – 8 Courses
M.F.Sc.(Fisheries biotechnology) - 10 Courses
PhD (Aquaculture) - 5 courses

Non-teaching staff

Mr.K.Murugan, Agricultural Supervisor
Mr.P.Robert, Sub-Inspector of Fisheries
Mr.A.Subramanian, Fishery Assistant
Mr.N.A.P.Anbukumar, Fishery Assistant
Mrs. P. Hargrees Perry Bai, Assistant
Mr.M.P. Arunachalam, Attendant
Mr.A. Aridhas, Attendant
Mr.R. Ramasamy, Attendant
Mr.M. Malaiyazhahu, Basic Servant
Mr.R.Subbiah, Basic Servant
Mr.R.Jeyaraman, Basic Servant
Tmt.G. Booma, Basic Servant
Tmt.M. Nagammal, Basic Servant

Research

The department carries out research activities in different fields of aquaculture including finfish and shellfish farming, seed production, disease management, nutrition, aquariculture, cryopreservation and genetic manipulation and breeding. Fish disease diagnosis and management research programmes were started since 1991 with the establishment of a dedicated laboratory with the initial grant from Asian Fisheries Society which was subsequently strengthened by Tamil Nadu Govt. Part II scheme in 1999 and then under the National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP , 2000). Laboratories for Fish nutrition and Water quality analysis were also established under this project for Shrimp and Fish Health Management. A well equipped separate Fish Virology Laboratory was further added to this section in 2009.

Fisheries Biotechnology Center was established as a unit under the department in 1999 and has currently well established laboratories to carry out various biotechnological works. A Cryopreservation laboratory was established during 2006 and the same laboratory was elevated to a level of Frozen sperm bank through NADP funding support in 2009.

Since inception of the department, more than 26 external agency funded projects excluding the state Govt. sponsored schemes were operated on various aspects by the faculty members of the dept.

Ongoing Projects

S.No	Title	Investigator(s),FCRI (Year)	Funding agency	Budget (Rs. Lakhs)
1.	Empowering Women through Fish Processing and Marketing in Tamilnadu	Dr.R.Suresh (2010)	NCAP (NAIP)	2.00
2.	Development of Sperm Bank for the production of quality seeds	Dr. J. Stephen Sampath Kumar (2009- 2012)	NADP, Govt. of Tamil Nadu	50.00
3.	An Export Oriented Marine Value Chain for Farmed Seafood production using Cobia(Rachycentron canadum) through Rural Entrepreneurship	Dr. N. Felix (2009-12)	NAIP, ICAR, New Delhi	154.00
4.	Development of e-courses for B.F.Sc. programme	Dr.R.Suresh (2009-11)	NAIP, ICAR, New Delhi	252.44
5.	InNoVacc- Indo-Norway Platform for developing candidate vaccines to invertebrates, piscine and avian species (Indo-Norwegian Collaborative project)	Dr. K. Riji John Dr. M. Rosalind George (2008-2012)	DBT, New Delhi	72.16
6.	Establishment of Fisheries Rural Bioresource Complex in the SC/ST villages of Thoothukudi district of Tamilnadu	Dr. N. Felix as Co PI (2008-11)	DBT	38.50
7.	Empowerment of SC/ST Women SelfHelp Group of Southern Coastal Districts of Tamilnadu by Aquariculture and Value Addition	Dr .B. Ahilan (2007-2010)	DBT, New Delhi	11.17
8.	Detection and characterisation of white spot syndrome virus virulence markers	Dr. K. Riji John Dr. M. Rosalind George Dr. M. J. Prince Jeyaseelan (2007-2010)	DBT, New Delhi	29.44
9.	Development and characterisation of cell lines from clownfish (Amphiprion Sp.) and their applications	Dr.K.Riji John Dr. M. Rosalind George(2007-2010)	DBT, New Delhi	36.00
10	Seed Production in Fisheries	Dr. M. J. Prince Jeyaseelan* Dr. J. Stephen Sampath Kumar Dr K. Karal Marx Dr. B. Ahilan Dr. N. Felix Mrs. Jacqueline Pereira (2006 onwards) *Since April 2009	ICAR	89.62

Completed projects

S.No	Title	Investigator(s)	Funding agency	Budget (Lakhs)
1.	Pathogenic vibrios associated with cultured shrimps Penaeus indicus and P. monodon	Dr. M. Rosalind George (1991-1994)	Asian Fisheries Society , Manila, Philippines	USD 10,000
2.	Role of non-hormonal growth promoters in common carp fry rearing	Dr.V. Sundararaj Dr. M. J. Prince Jeyaseelan (1993-1995)	TNSCST	0.62
3.	Production maximization of freshwater prawn under mono culture and poly culture system	Dr.V. Sundararaj Dr. J. Stephen Sampath Kumar (1995-1998)	ICAR	5.00
4.	Technology Development for Murrel Culture	Dr.V. Sundararaj Dr K. Karal Marx (1997-2000)	ICAR, New Delhi	5.11
5.	National Agricultural Technology Project on Shrimp and Fish Health Management	Dr. M. J. Prince Jeyaseelan Dr. K. Riji John Dr. M. Rosalind George Dr. Nathan Felix (1999-2004)	NATP, ICAR, New Delhi	22.65
6.	Molecular epidemiology of white spot disease in penaeid shrimps	Dr. K. Riji John Dr. M. Rosalind George (2001-2004)	DBT, New Delhi	27.33
7.	Development and characterisation of fish cell lines from warmwater fishes	Dr. K. Riji John Dr. M. Rosalind George (2002-2006)	ICAR, New Delhi	13.28
8.	Effect of colour enhancers on the pigmentation of tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon	Dr. N. Felix Dr.B. Ahilan (2004)	Dumas, Denmark	USD 4972
9.	Evolving Marine Imminostimulants for Eco-Friendly Shrimp Aquaculture	Dr. S. Felix (2000-2003).	ICAR, New Delhi	10.8
10.	Prototyping of raceway based third generation shrimp farming technology	Dr. S. Felix Dr K. Karal Marx (2004 -2007)	DBT, New Delhi	27.21
11.	Technology development for the production of monosex and triploid catfish Clarias batrachus using chromosome manipulation techniques	Dr K. Karal Marx Dr. S. Felix (2004-2007)	ICAR, New Delhi	8.49
12.	Studies on the influence of natural products as growth promoters and immunity enhancers in tiger shrimps Penaeus monodon and tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus	Dr. N. Felix Dr. M. Rosalind George Dr. M. J. Prince Jeyaseelan (2005-2006)	Norfeed, Denmark	USD 7784
13.	Evaluation of bacterial diversity associated with the coral Acropora digitifera by 16S rRNA gene sequences and screening for antiviral activity against the aquaculture pathogen blotched snakehead virus (BSNV)	Dr. K. Riji John (2006-2009)	DBT, New Delhi	19.61
14.	Molecular profiling of Vibrio spp. from shrimp farming systems for virulence markers	Dr. M. Rosalind George Dr. K. Riji John Dr K. Karal Marx (2006-2009)	DST, New Delhi	22.57
15.	Market opportunities for Fisheries sector in India	Dr.R.Suresh (2008)	NCAP (NFDB)	2.49
16.	Role of SelPlex in controlling white spot syndrome viral infection (WSSV) in black tiger shrimp	Dr. K. Riji John Dr. M. Rosalind George (2009)	Alltech Inc., USA	USD 6250

Equipments

The department is bestowed with many sophisticated equipment to carry out research work in different facets of aquaculture. These include:

Ultra centrifuge, Upright and inverted microscopes with fluorescence and photomicrography, Cold handling unit, refrigerated centrifuges, cooling incubators, cryoplanner & cryocans, UV spectrophotometers, luminometer, thermal cyclers, gel doc systems, deboner, feed extruder, biosafety cabinets, Photometer (MERCK Spectoquart), workstations etc.

Recent research publications

2010

K Riji John, M Rosalind George, T Iyappan, A Jemila Thangarani and M J Prince Jeyaseelan 2010. Indian isolates of white spot syndrome virus exhibit variations in the pathogenicity and genomic tandem repeats. Journal of Fish Diseases 33:749-758
Rajagopalsamy, C.B.T., E. Karthikeyan and V.K.Venkataramani, 2010. Effect of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin on the growth of Angelfish, Pterophyllum Scalare (Lichtenstein, 1823). Indian J. Fish, 57(2): 85-88.
Ahilan, B., Nithiyapriyartharshini, A., and Ravaneshwaran, K.2010. Influence of certain herbal additives in the growth, survival and disease resistance of goldfish, Carassius auratus (Linnaeus). Tamil Nadu Journal of Veterianry and Animal Sciences. 5(6): (in press).

2008

Felix, N., M. J. Prince Jeyaseelan, C. John Wesly Kirubakaran, 2008. Growth improvement and enhanced resistance against Vibrio alginolyticus using β glucan as a dietry supplement for Penaeus monodon. Indian Journal of Fisheries 55(3):247-250
Karal Marx, K and A. Anand. 2008. A comparative study on the preparation of metaphase chromosomes from the tissues of hatchlings, fry, juveniles, sub adults and adults of Indian major carps and air breathing fishes. The Asian J. Anim. Sci. Vol. 3(1).
Karal Marx, K. 2008. Effect of growth and survival of striped murrel, Channa striatus (Blotch) under different stocking density in the nursery rearing phase. J. Inland Fish Soc. Ind. 40(1):75-77.
Ahilan, B. Jegan, K. Felix,N and Ravaneeswaran, K, 2008. Influence of botanical additives in the growth and colouration of adult goldfish, Carassius auratus (Linnaeus). Tamil Nadu Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences. 4 (4): 129 – 134 (2008)

2007

Satendra Kumar, M. Rosalind George, K. Riji John, and M. J. Prince Jeyaseelan. 2007. Molecular typing of Vibrio harveyi and V. alginolyticus from shrimp farming systems. Indian Journal of Marine Sciences 36:43-50
Karal Marx, K. and Ramanuj Chakraborty. 2007. A comparative study on the induced breeding and in vitro fertilization performance by various inducing agents in catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis. Bang. J. Fish. Res. Vol.11(1), 01-05.
Karal Marx, K and N. Sukumaran. 2007. Production of triploid catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell) using chromosome manipulation techniques. Bang. J. Fish. Res. Vol.11(2), 121-130
Karal Marx, K and N. Sukumaran. 2007. Comparison of effectiveness of heat and cold shocks applied in the induction of gynogenesis in Clarias gariepinus (Burchell)”. Bang. J. Fish. Res. Vol.11(2),131-140
Santhanam,R., N. Felix, M.J. Prince Jeyaseelan and Rosalind George. 2007. Eco-friendly herbal feeds for the production of disease resistant tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon. World Aquaculture, World Aquaculture Society. 38(2)
Alamelu .V, S.A.Shanmugam, C.B.T.Rajagopalsamy and P.Velayutham, 2007. Storage Characteristics of Restructured Ready-to-Cook Imitation Shrimp fingers under refrigerated storage at 40C. Fishery Technology, 42(2):173 -180

2006

Gusheinzed Waikhom, K. Riji John, M. Rosalind George and M. J. Prince Jeyaseelan. 2006. Differential host passaging alters pathogenicity and induce genomic variation in white spot syndrome virus. Aquaculture 261:54-63
M. Rosalind George, A. Maharajan, K. Riji John & M. J. Prince Jeyaseelan. 2006. Shrimps survive white spot syndrome virus challenge following treatment with vibrio bacterin. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology 44:63-67
Felix .N. Aunto Princy Vyla M.J. Prince Jeyaseelan, 2006. Botanical additives enhances growth and Disease resistant in tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon, World Aquaculture, World Aquaculture Society 37(2):16-17
Felix,N.and P.Kalaimani Arasi, B.Ahilan and K.Riji John, 2006. Preliminary study on the effects of mannan oligosaccharides on the growth and survival of juvenile tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon challenged with Vibrio harveyi and white spot syndrome virus. Proceedings of the International Conference on Coastal Oceanography and Sustainable Marine Aquaculture. Kotakinabalu, Malaysia, 2-4 May 2006. P.294-302
Felix, N. M.J.Prince Jeyaseelan and G.Rosalind George,2006. Medicinal plant extracts improve growth and survival of tiger shrimp challenged with Vibrio harveyi Proceedings of the International Conference on Coastal Oceanography and Sustainable Marine Aquaculture. Kotakinabalu, Malaysia, 2-4 May 2006. p.342-348
Felix, N. Bea Nielsen, Jamila Thangarani , R.Santhanam and .G. Sanjeeviraj, 2006. Dietary administration of natural products improves growth and disease resistance of tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon against Vibrio harveyi. Proceedings of the International Conference on Coastal Oceanography and Sustainable Marine Aquaculture. Kotakinabalu, Malaysia, 2-4 May 2006.349-354
Felix,N. and M.J.Prince Jeyaseelan, 2006. Effects of different protein diets on the growth and food conversion ratio of postlarvae of freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii in nursery rearing. Indian Journal of Fisheries; 53(2): 175-180.

Recent Books published

Text book on Aquariculture. B.Ahilan, N.Felix and R.Santhakumar, 2008. Days publication, New Delhi.
Gold Fish. BAhilan, N.Felix and J.D.Jameson, 2009. Days publication, New Delhi.

Extension

Conducted ICAR winter schools on Biotechnological advances in diseases diagnosis and health management (2009) and Aquaculture Nutrition and Production of Live and Artificial Feeds (2005).
Training manuals in various aspects of aquaculture were published
Training programmes on composite fish culture, ornamental fish culture, shrimp farming, fish and shrimp disease management, live feed production, PCR in shrimp disease diagnosis, fish cell culture techniques, freshwater prawn farming etc. are regularly conducted
A number of popular articles in Tamil and English for the benefit of farmers and entrepreneurs were published
Six Awareness programmes on cobia farming organized for fisher folk

Salient achievements

Established continuous cell lines from snakehead, marine seabass fish kidney, various organs from clownfish by explant method and caudal peduncle by enzymatic method and from freshwater snakehead fish kidney cells by explant culture. Four of the cell lines were deposited at National Centre for Cell Sciences, Pune.
Found out the existence of biological variability in white spot syndrome virus isolates obtained from different geographical locations in India and documented the pathogenicity and genome alteration of WSSV after passage through different hosts – reported first time globally (Aquaculture 261:54-63; Journal of Fish Diseases 33:749-758)
Developed a bacterin (vaccine) for juvenile shrimps against WSSV (Indian Journal of Experimental Biology 44:63-67)
Developed Herbal feed to protect shrimp against WSSV and Vibrio spp. (Technology Release Appreciation Award by the TANUVAS (Felix.N, M.J.Prince Jeyaseelan, M Rosalind George, K.Riji John, 2008)
Found out eleven coral associated bacterial strains having antiviral activity against blotched snakehead virus and partially characterized the antiviral bioactive fraction of the bacterial supernatant and found that the compound is polar in nature. (Presented in the National Seminar on Marine Fisheries: sustainability at Cross Roads. College of Fisheries, Mangalore 575002, 22-23 December 2009)
Standardised DNA fingerprinting of Vibrio pathogens using IS primers and found out the existence of source independent strain variability of Vibrio alginolyticus isolates of shrimp farms by PCR fingerprinting technique (Letters in Applied Microbiology 40:369-372; Indian Journal of Marine Sciences 36:43-50)
Detected stress induced genomic variation in bacteria (Presented in the International Conference Vibrio 2007 at Paris)
Technologies for Low Cost Natural Colour Enhancer for Ornamental Fishes (Felix.N and J.D.Jameson, 2009) and Production of Disease Resistant Ornamental Fishes through herbal Product (Felix.N. 2009) were released
Catfish hatchery was established for the production of Clarias bartractus needs.