Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1992

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.

Seed availability plays a vital role in agricu ltural activities including aquaculture. Tilapia, although popular among developing countries for its favorable characteristics; high yield , hardiness, easy seed production and high market demand , is still lacking farmers' level seed production methodologies. This study is an attempt to develop the farmers' level self reliant tilapia seed production model, which is aimed at the areas not served by commercial fish seed production farms. The present study was carried out as a field study in Sisaket, Northeast Thailand to ; (i) identify the constraints to promote raising food fish in the project area (ii ) determine the current status of fish seed production and marketing in the study area and (iii ) test known tilapia seed production technology by oncampus and on - farm trials with field conditions in the study area. According to the results ( i ) aquaculture is poorly developed in Sisaket compared to other parts of Northeast Thailand because of a relative abundance of wild fish and paucity of fish seed at the village level and other common rural development problems (ii ) both private and government seed production is newly developed in the study area (iii ) tilapia seed can be produced successfully at the farm level and could be an important stimulus to aquaculture and the former services fish farmers mainly outside Sisaket whereas Government hatcheries s upply farmers listed to official projects . An output of 13 - tilapia fry/m2/ day from a single hapa- in- pond system was attained. Large har,as (20m2) performed more predictably than small hapas ( 5. 4 m } {u2022} The micro-scale tilapia seed production model developed indicates that one producer (farmer ) can served four fish farmers including himself over a period of four seed production cycles (two months).