Integration of Carp culture with Makhana

(Euryale ferox Salisb.)

– A Route to Crop Diversification

Dr. Anand Mohan Verma

Reg. No. – PGDIF 114

Guide
Dr. Subhendu Datta
Sr. Scientist

POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN INLAND FISHERIES

Central Institute of Fisheries Education
Kolkata centre
32-GN Block, Sector V, Kolkata – 91, India

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 Integration of Carp culture with Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb.)
– A Route to Crop Diversification

Introduction:

The word makhana is composed of two Sanskrit words – Makh, means

Yajna and Anna, means grain. Due to its non-mentioning in Vedas, it is
considered as non-indigenous in origin.

It is an aquatic dry fruit with high nutritional value and medicinal

properties also. The edible pops are the finished products obtained after
the processing of the seeds of this aquatic phytocrop. Makhana is major
cash crop of North Bihar.

Makhana is called fox nut or Gorgon nut in English because its seeds are
hard and nut like.

Its scientific name is Euryale ferox salisb. Earlier scientific name of

Makhana was Anislia spinosa. It belongs to the family Nymphaeceae.

Makhana is very delicious fruit and is called different names in different

states.
Sanskrit - Makhann
Maithili - Makhan
Hindi - Makhana
Bengali - Mokhana
Gujrati - Makhanna
Marathi - Makhano
Asami - Nikori
Punjabi &
Kashmiri - Jewar
Orria - Kanti Padam
Telgu - Padmanu

In my opinion Makhana can be called as ‘Black gems of Wetlands’.

As far the distribution of Makhana plants is concerned it is found in natural
wild forms in various parts of north East India (Assam, Meghalaya,
Tripura) and in scattered pockets of U.P. and Orissa. However, North Bihar

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is the principal area where it is cultivated as cash crop. In North Bihar
about 9 districts (Kishanganj, Araria, Purnia, Katihar, Supaul, Madhepura,
Saharsa, Darbhanga and Madhubani.) witness the cultivation of Makhana.
It is important aquatic bio-resource of North Bihar.

Life cycle and Cultivation

Makhana is a perennial rooted floating aquatic herb. In north Bihar it is

cultivated as annual aquatic phytocrop. Its plant is large prickly with
orbicular floating gigantic leaves. The size of leaves even more than 1 m.
Plant is rooted with rhizomatous stem and cluster of roots. Leaves are
green above and purple beneath. Flowers are violet in colour. Two types if
flowers appear cleistogamous and chasmogamous. Fruits are spongy berry
like which undergo dehiscence to release the arillated seeds. Mucilaginous
arils keep the seeds floating for few days. Seeds finally settle down to the
bottom. Each Makhana plant produces 15-20 fruits and each fruit contains
30-40 seeds.

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Phenological cycle of E. ferox comprises four stages – seeding stage,
seedling stage, grand growth stage and harvesting stage. Oct. – Nov. is
the seeding phase, only for new cultivating ponds but seeding is not
followed in traditionally cultivated ponds because unharvested seeds of
preceding crop left over the pond bed germinate to for new plants. Seeds
germinate at the bottom during Dec. – Jan. and grow a new crop.

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The crop achieves maximum growth during April – June and called grand
growth stage. Flowering starts in May and flowering fruiting continue till
mid July.

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 Flowering and fruiting of
Maturation of Makhana Crop
Leaves
G R
Transplantation
H O
of makhana
Cutting of Leaves

Seedlings
S W of Makhana
I T
MAY

Makhana Crop
JUN

Harvesting of
F APR H
JUL

Harvesting
MAR

of Fish
Sprouting of

Total
fingerlings of
Stocking of

grass carp
Leaves

AUG
FEB
Fish
Makhana JUL Stocking of fingerlings of
Fish
JAN Integration
AUG
D
Mak hana seeds
Ger mination of

DEC
H
SEP U
F NOV T M
OCT

I
W E
S
O H
H R
G T
N
S I
E E D S

Integration
Integrated fish farming is a diversified and coordinated way of farming or
producing agricultural items or the items of animal husbandry in the fish
farms. The items are to be used as source of feeds and fertilizer, source of
additional income or both. The integration of these items in a fish farm
promotes full utilization of its land area and recycling of wastes and by
products, minimizes the operation expenses in the feeds and fertilizers.
Ultimately, there is an improvement in the living stander of the workers
due to increase in income.

Types of Integration

Integrated fish farming is nothing but the clubbing and there are various
types of integrated fish farming like Paddy cum fish culture, fish with
horticulture, dairy cum fish culture, poultry cum fish culture, duckery cum
fish culture, Piggery cum fish culture, etc.
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Integrated with Air Breathing Fishes

Air breathing fishes thrive well in Makhana cultivating ponds. Earlier
Dehdrai under All India Coordinated Research Project on Air
breathing fishes reported the production of air breathing fishes
(1200 Kg/ha) in Makhana ponds (Dehadrai, 1972).

After culturing of air breathing fishes in such ponds, I obtained a
3600 Kg/ha of fish (Verma et al., 1996).
But to culture carp fishes in such biotope adoption of some techniques is
essential to make the entire ecosystem friendly to the fishes.

Integrated carp culture with Makhana

It is done for the purpose of :
1. Utilization of pond to get two cash crops Makhana and Fish at a
time.

2. To minimize the production cost of both crops.

3. To Control insects, pests, nematodes, gastropods which damage

Makhana plants as fishes feed upon these macro invertebrates.

4. Aquatic weed compete with Makhana. To reduce this competition

and to save labour charges for deweeding, grass carp was included
in the carp culture to feed on these weed.

5. To utilize organic matter formed due to decomposition of the various

parts of makhana crop which provides suitable habitat for bottom
dwelling fishes.

6. To utilize all the available trophic levels and different niches in

wetland ecosystem.

7. To utilize the various nutrients released in water after decomposition

of makhana plants to accelerate fish growth.

8. To avoid poaching of fishes as makhana plants are prickly.

9. To reduce the risk by crop diversification.

Seeding of Makhana

1. In the traditional Makhana culture pond fresh seeding of Makhana is

not needed, where as in fish culture pond (where there is no
Makhana plants) this integrated culture is not followed.
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 2. The unharvested seeds of Makhana of the preceding crop left over
at the pond bottom germinate to form the seedlings for succeeding
years.

Thinning and Transplantation (From My Work):

To maintain the inter-space between two plants of E. ferox were uprooted

in March, 99 and were transplanted all over the available water space
keeping a gap of about one meter in between two plants. During thinning
and transplantation, vacant spaces were left in two regions of the pond –
central region and corner region. In the central region, 7 cm long and 3 m
broad vacant space was left in which no transplantation was performed.
Again to prevent the entry of crawling leaves of makhana plants into this
area, this space was enclosed with the help of bamboo poles. Further four
vacant spaces one on each corner of the pond, were also provided.
Purpose of such device was to provide dissolved oxygen to the stocked
fishes during the grand growth stage of makhana crop (Verma, Aaj -Daily
Newspaper from Patna, 2002).

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Cutting of Leaves
In July, 99 all the leaves of the crop were cut off from the petiolar region
with the help of sickle and then the leaves were left to decay after keeping
these in inverted position.

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Harvesting:
In August, 99 the aquaphytocrop was harvested by skilled
fishermen. The scattered seeds of makhana crop present in the pond soil
were gathered by them with the help of hands and legs. Heaps of seeds
were made and finally these seeds were lifted up with the help of baskets
called ‘Gaanj’, total weight of the seeds were taken (Jha et al., 2003).
Total weight of the seeds were 469 Kg/0.40 ha/yr. From above seeds 200
kg of makhana pops were obtained after processing. On the basis of
Makhana seed yield this pond can be categorized as moderate yielding
pond (Verma, 2003)

Post Harvest technology or Pop Preparation or Popping:

Seeds are hard, black coloured, round in shape with a diameter of 45 mm

to 15 mm and have seed coat called pericarp. Seeds contain starchy
endosperm (Jha et al., 2003).

Drying
Size grading
Heating
Tempering
Roasting
Popping

Grading
Packaging.

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 Fisher woman drying the raw Makhana seeds

Sieves of various mesh size Makhana seeds being roasted in

earthen pots

Production data from Kosi Division:

This sector is not organized. All India or Bihar or even North-Bihar data is
not available. I worked on Kosi division of Bihar and generated some data,
gist of which is given below.
The division consists of three districts e.g. Sharsha, Supaul and
Madhepura.

Total area covered: 2430.5 ha

Total Production: 1726 mt/yr

No. of People involved: 10,369

Total Revenue: Rs. 11.01 lakh/yr (Verma, 1995).
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Management of Fish Crop:

Stocking of fingerlings of different fish species –

Total 1400 no. of fingerlings of Catla, Rohu, Mrigal, Common Carp, Silver
Carp, and Grass Carp in the ration of 20:15:20:30:5:5 respectively were
stocked in July, 98. Average wt. of Catla, Rohu, Mrigal, Common Carp,
Silver, Carp and Gras carp was 20.6 gm, 21.3 gm., 23.6 gm, 29.5 gm,
17.8 gm, and 26.9 gm, respectively.
Monthly growth –
Monthly increase in wt. was observed after netting with cast net.
Harvesting –
In August, 99, harvesting was conducted and species wise wt. was taken.
Total Yield of fish: 852 Kg/0.4 ha in 392 days.
Fish Growth – Highest wt. gain by common carp was followed by Mrigal,
Silver Carp, catla, Rohu and Grass Carp. Decomposed plant parts of
makhana crop supplied the organic matter which, besides acting as food
both for bottom dwelling fishes like Mrigal and Common Carp and soil
organisms, promoted a suitable substrate in the pond for a rich growth of
attached algae, zooplankton, insect larvae, nematodes and gastropods
which formed as natural fish food organisms.

Plant parts of makhana after decomposition released nitrogen,

phosphorous and potassium in the water to enhance the plankton
population resulting ultimately in an increase of fish growth.
Fish production –
Total fish production was 852 kg comprising 100 kg of Rohu, 287 kg
Common carp, 246 kg of Mrigal, 147 kg of Catla, 32 kg of Grass carp and
40 kg of silver carp.

Water and Soil quality parameters

Transparency – During July’ 98 and Aug’ 99, transparency was 36 cm

and 42 cm which was due to high rate of decomposition of organic matter
whereas in December’ 98 and Jan’ 99, low rate of decomposition results
the transparency 72 cm and 70 cm respectively.

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Table: Production data of fish

Species No. Initial No. of fish Growth Total final Survival

fingerlings wt. harvested rate wt. (Kg) at %
stocked (Av. in (Av. in harvesting
gm) gm)
Catla 280 20.6 265 554 147 94.6

Rohu 210 21.3 200 500 100 95.2

Mrigal 350 23.6 340 723 246 97.1

Common 420 29.5 400 717 287 95.2

carp
70 17.8 60 666 40 85.7
Silver carp
70 26.9 55 581 32 78.5
Grass carp

1400 1320 852

pH: PH of water remained neutral to slight alkaline on nature (7.3 to 8.2).

During June’ 99 decomposition leads to form free Co2 resulting the
formation of carbonic acid to bring down the PH. But during Dec’ 98 and
Jan’ 99 dense vegetation of aquatic weds utilize more Co2 to increase PH.
Free CO2: During June’ 99 increase in temperature leads to
decomposition of organic matter to form maximum amount of free Co2 (32
mg/l). But during Dec’ 98 to march’ 99 high photosynthetic activities of
aquatic weeds and algae bring down Co2 value (25.2 to 26.4 mg/l).
Dissolved Oxygen – During Feb’ 99 dissolved oxygen content was 8.10
mg/l which was due to high solubility of oxygen from air at low
temperature. But during June’ 99, the covered water showed the value of
5.05 mg/l and uncovered water showed 6.04 mg/l. Low D.O. value during
this month was due to utilization of oxygen for decomposition of organic
matter. The sprawling leaves of makhana plants decreases the D.O
content but the provision of vacant space did not allow to lower the D.O.
content up to that limit which could be fatal for the fishes.
Phosphate and Total Nitrogen – The content of phosphate and total
Nitrogen was highest during June’ 99 due to bacterial decomposition.
Soil pH: pH of soil was neutrality to slightly alkaline due to long
submergence. Decrease in PH in May’ 99 and June’ 99 was due to
formation of Co2 after decomposition of organic matter.
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Organic Carbon (%): Highest percentage (1.10) during Aug’ 99 was
due to accumulation of organic matter at the bottom after decomposition
of makhana plants.
Phosphorus (mg/100 gm Soil) - Low content of phosphorous (7.20)
during June’ 99 was due to its utilization by Makhana plants but highest
(14.54) in Oct’ 98 due to accumulation.
Nitrogen (mg/100 Soil) – Low content of nitrogen (49.0) during April’
99 was due to its utilization by Plants but accumulation led to highest
value (96.0).
Phytoplankton – Phytoplankton were represented by Cyanophyceae
Chorophyceae and Bacillariophyceae. Chlorophyceae was rich in species
diversity being represented by 21 species followed by Canophyceae and
Bacillariophyceae with 5 and 4 species respectively. Highest phytoplankton
population (4208 u/l) was recorded in Feb’ 99 and lowest (989 u/l) during
Dec’ 98.
Zooplankton – Zooplankton were represented by protozoa, rotifera,
cladocera and copepoda. The highest population was recorded in May’ 99
and lowest population in September’ 98. Temperature and nutrients
content controlled the zooplankton population.

Economics
Items Quantity Total amount (Rs.)

1. Lease of a pond One (0.4 ha.) 1,000

2. Labour charges
(Transplanting of Makhana plantlets,
cutting of leaves, harvesting, poping,
preparation and netting of fish). 90 man-days 7,000
3. Cost of fingerlings 1400 nos. 970

Total Expenditure 8,970

Returns :
1. Sale of 200 kg. of Makhana pops 16,000
2. Sale of 852 Kg. of fish 34,080
Total: Rs. 50,800

Profit: Rs. 50,080 - Rs. 8,970 = Rs. 41,110

Thus, Net profit was Rs. 41,110 i.e. Rs. 1,02,775 per ha/crop.

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References

1. Verma, A. M. (1994). Integrated fish farming with Makhana (Euryale

ferox Salisb.) Fishing chimes 5:13.
2. Verma, A.M. (1995). Aquatic horticulture- occupation of fisherman
community of Kosi division North Bihar. Environ & Ecol. 13 (4) : 960-
964.
3. Verma A.M., Ahmad, S.H. and Jha V. (1996). Integrated Culture of air
breathing carnivorous fishes with Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb) in a
derelict wetland of North Bihar, India. J. Freshwater Biol. 8(2) : 117-
120.
4. Jha, V., Verma, A.M., Jha, A.K. and Banerjee, L.K. (1998). Rural
technology for harvesting makhana seeds (Euryale ferox Salisb.) in
Bihar. Botanical Survey of India ENVIS News Letters, 5: 7-8.
5. Verma, A.M. (2002). Machhli aur Makhana ki samanwait kheti, Aaj
(Hindi Daily Newspaper published from Patna). p.6.
6. Verma, A.M. (2003). Problem and prospects of Makhana cultivation in
Kosi division Nort-Bihar, Makhana, ICAR publication, New Delhi. P.103-
106.
7. Jha, V., Verma, A.M. and Jha, A.K. (2003). Indegenous contrivances
utilized in Makhana cultivation in north and north-eastern India.
Makhana. ICAR Publication, New Delhi, p 241-248.
8. Verma, A.M. (2004). Matsya palan ke sath Makhana ki samanwait
kheti- ek labhkari pranali, Asmarika karyasala on Pen and cage culture,
Matsya bibhag Bihar sarkar, 7-9.
9. Verma A.M. (2005). Ecological Studies of integrated fish culture with
Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb) in North Bihar, Ph.D. Thesis, L. N.
Mithila University, Darbhanga.
10. Verma, A.M. (2006). Integration of aquacrops, agriculture and dairy
farming in a derelict wetland of North Bihar. J. Inland Fish. Soc. India.
38 (1): 86-89.
11. Verma, A. M., Jha, V., Ahmad, S.H. (2007). Fish-Makhana (Euryale
Ferox Salisb.) Integration - A Case Study of Sustainable Aquafarming
System In North Bihar. J. Indian Fish. Association (Communicated).

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