Introductions
In aquaculture, product demand is increasing day by day, which leads to the development of unique aquaculture production system. Low saline aquaculture - Inland saline aquaculture - is defined as land-based aquaculture using saline groundwater, occurs in several parts country including Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Panjab, Hariyana Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, etc. In India, a total of 6,744,968 ha low saline land available.
Bottlenecks and solution for low saline aquaculture
The Indian aquaculture industry is presently focusing on shrimp farming, particularly on single species, Whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vananmei). But, it is not a sustainable model due to its emerging diseases which declined the production performance. On the other side, potential finfish species like Asian seabass, Milk fish, Mullet and Pearl spot have been cultured in low saline brackish waters. However, lack of seed availability and suitable feed are major bottlenecks which adversely affecting the brackishwater finfish aquaculture production. Hence, alternative species must be propagated through species diversification to utilize the low saline water resources, to make that sustainable. In this context, tilapia would be the potential species to strengthen the low saline water aquaculture production.
Potentiality of GIFT tilapia in low saline water
The tilapia species are euryhaline and it can tolerate a wide range of salinity, grow and even reproduce in saline waters. In case of GIFT tilapia rearing in low saline water, it needs to be standardized, to avoid the stress due to the salinity exposure. Based on the literature, GIFT strain showed better growth performances (daily growth rate, length gain, weight gain specific growth rate and survival) up to 15 ppt. Hence, the present review concludes that farmers can utilize low saline water to culture the GIFT tilapia in a more sustainable way.