Optimizing Chicken Blood Quantity for Sustainable Tubificid Worm Cultivation
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Tubificids are widely used in aquaculture and valued as a key live food organism for both aquarium enthusiasts and commercial fish breeders. As the abundance of tubificids in nature is declining rapidly, it is essential to culture these worms using low-cost media ingredients to meet their increasing demand. Hence, this study focused on determining the optimal quantity of chicken blood as a soaking medium for fermenting the media ingredients (30% soybean meal, 20% wheat bran, 20% mustard oil cake, 20% cow dung, and 10% sand) for cultivating tubificid worms. The worms were cultured for 90 days under four treatments in flow-through culverts (160×25×10 cm³) with identical media, varying only in the soaking agents: Treatment I (2 L·kg-1 chicken blood), Treatment II (4 L·kg-1 chicken blood), Treatment III (6 L·kg-1 chicken blood), and Treatment IV (control, rice gruel). The highest yield (578.97±17.03 mg·cm-²) (p<0.05) was recorded on the 70th day of culture in Treatment II, indicating that this medium is well-suited for large-scale production of tubificid worms. Furthermore, the water quality parameters such as temperature (26.93–30.37 °C), dissolved oxygen (6.10–7.07 ppm), and pH (7.2–7.6) were found to be within favorable limits, which confirms their appropriateness for culturing this live food. Using 4 L·kg-1 chicken blood as the soaking medium significantly enhanced tubificid yield, offering a cost-effective solution to meet the growing demand for live food in large-scale aquaculture.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Ahamed, M.T. and M.F.A. Mollah. 1992. Effects of various levels of wheat bran and mustard oil cake in the culture media on tubificid production. Aquaculture 107(1): 107–113. DOI: 10.1016/0044-8486(92)90053-N.
Alam, M.A., M.A. Khan, M.D. Sarower-E-Mahfuj, Y. Ara, I. Parvez and M.N. Amin. 2021. A model for tubificid worm (Tubifex tubifex) production and its effect on growth of three selected ornamental fish. Bangladesh Journal of Fisheries 33(2): 205–214. DOI: 10.52168/bjf.2021.33.23.
Alam, M.S. and M.F.A. Mollah. 1988. Formulation of an artificial dry feed for primary nursing of catfish (Clarias batrachus L) larvae. Bangladesh Journal of Fisheries 11(1): 71–75.
Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). 1980. Official methods of analysis. In: Official methods of analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, 13th ed. (ed. W. Hoewitz), pp. 376–384. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Washington, D.C., USA.
Aston, R.J. 1973. Tubificids and water quality: A review. Environmental Pollution 5(1): 1–10.
Begum, M., P. Noor, K.N. Ahmed, N. Sultana, M.R. Hasan and L.C. Mohanta. 2014. Development of a culture technique for Tubificid worm under laboratory conditions. Bangladesh Journal of Zoology 42(1): 117–122. DOI: 10.3329/bjz.v42i1.23342.
Buddington, R.K. and S.I. Doroshov. 1984. Feeding trials with hatchery produced white sturgeon juveniles (Acipenser transmontanus). Aquaculture 36(3): 237–243. DOI: 10.1016/0044-8486(84)90239-4.
Department of Fisheries (DOF). 2023. Yearbook of Fisheries Statistics of Bangladesh, 2022–23. Fisheries Resources Survey System (FRSS), Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 138 pp.
Giere, O. and O. Pfannkuche. 1982. Biology and ecology of marine Oligochaeta, a review. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 20: 173–308.
Hasan, M., M.I.M. Haque, N. Akter, M.S. Rahman and A.S. Eti. 2019. Effects of wetting media cattle blood, rice gruel and water on the yield and amino acid composition of Tubificid worms. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Science 45(2): 229–239. DOI: 10.3329/jasbs.v45i2.46596.
Hossain, A., M. Hasan. and M.F.A. Mollah. 2011. Effects of soybean meal and mustard oil cake on the production of fish live food tubificid worms in Bangladesh. World Journal of fish and marine sciences 3(3): 183–189.
Islam S., M.M. Rahman., Mariom, M.F.A. Mollah and M.A.B. Siddik. 2015. Performance of chicken blood for the production of tubificid worms as live food for fish. World Applied Sciences Journal 33(3): 496–502. DOI: 10.5829/idosi.wasj.2015.33.03.9337.
Jewel, A.S., A. Al Masud, R. Amin, A. Haque and N. Sultana. 2016. Comparative growth of Tubificid worms in culture media supplemented with different nutrients. International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies 4(6): 83–87.
Jhingran, V.G. 1982. Fish and Fisheries of India. Hindustan Publication Corporation, Delhi, India. 662 pp.
Kaster, J.L. 1980. The reproductive biology of Tubifex tubifex Muller (Annelida: Tubificidae). American Midland Naturalist 104(2): 364–366. DOI: 10.2307/2424877.
Li-RenXi. 2001. Studies on the growth and reproduction of Tubifex tubifex Muller. Hydrobiolgia 25: 14–20.
Mahfuj, M.S., M.A Hossain and M.G. Sarower. 2012. Effect of different feeds on larval development and survival of ornamental koi carp, Cyprinus carpio (Linnaeus, 1758) larvae in laboratory condition. Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University 10(1): 179–183. DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.209316.
Marian, M.P. 1982. Ecophysiological studies in frog culture. PhD Thesis, Madurai Kamaraf University, Madurai, India. 222 pp.
Marian, M.P. and T.J. Pandian. 1984. Culture and harvesting techniques for Tubifex tubifex. Aquaculture 42(3–4): 303–315. DOI: 10.1016/0044-8486(84)90109-1.
Marian, M.P., S. Chandran and T.J. Pandian. 1989. A rack culture system for Tubifex tubifex. Aquacultural engineering 8(5): 329–337. DOI: 10.1016/0144-8609(89)90039-3.
Mariom and M.F.A. Mollah. 2012. Development of a suitable culture medium for the production of tubificid worms. Asian Fisheries Science 25: 40–51. DOI: 10.33997/j.afs.2012.25.1.004.
Mariom and M.F.A. Mollah. 2013. Effects of culture space on the production of tubificid worms (Oligochaeta, Naididae). Asian Fisheries Science 26: 222–231. DOI: 10.33997/j.afs.2013.26.4.004.
Mariom, M.S. Hossain, R.J. Rifa, C. Mondal, M.I. Ahamed, and A.P. Sudipta. 2026. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in aquaculture: Current insights, research gaps, and future directions for sustainability. Archives of Microbiology 208(72): 1–30. DOI: 10.1007/s00203-025-04625-4.
Mollah, M.F.A. 1991. Culture feasibility of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Journal of Fisheries 14: 87–89.
Mollah, M.F.A. and E.S.P Tan. 1982. Effects of feeding frequency on the growth and survival of catfish (Clarias macrocephalus Gunther) larvae. Indian Journal of Fisheries 29(1 & 2): 1–7.
Mollah, M.F.A. and M.T Ahamed. 1989. A note on preliminary study of culture of tubificids worms. Bangladesh Journal of Fisheries 12(2): 91–95.
Mollah, M.F.A., K. Mosharaf and Mariom. 2012. Selection of suitable media and intervals of media inoculation for culturing tubificid worms. Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University 10(2): 325–330.
Mollah, M.F.A., M.S.A. Mamun, M.N. Sarowar and A. Roy. 2009. Effects of stocking density on the growth and breeding performance of broodfish and larval growth and survival of shol, Channa striatus (Bloch). Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University 7(2): 427–432. DOI: 10.3329/jbau.v7i2.4756.
Phillips, G.R. and D.R. Buhler. 1979. Influences of dieldrin on the growth and body composition of fingerling rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) fed Oregon Moist Pellets or tubificid worms (Tubifex sp.). Journal of the Fisheries Board of Canada 36(1): 77–80. DOI: 10.1139/f79-010.
Samanta Chandan, C.S. and P. Roy. 2024. Aquaculture practices in Bangladesh: A synopsis on prospects, productivity, and problems. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 55(1): 4–25. DOI: 10.1111/jwas.13045S.
Sulaiman, M.A., L.Y. Nin., S.N. Amin., R. Fotedar., F.M. Yusoff and J.H.Z. Moh. 2025. Assessment of fruit waste as feed additives in aquafeed for growth performance and health benefits of fishes under biofloc technology. Reviews in Aquaculture 17(2): e70000. DOI: 10.1111/raq.70000.
Zebua, R.D., D. Laoli, B.V. Telaumbanua, J. Dawolo and O. Zebua. 2025. Optimization of local feed ingredient composition to achieve 30% protein levels in cultivated fish feed production. Journal of Fish Health 5(1): 67–75. DOI: 10.29303/jfh.v5i1.6312.
