Comparative Studies on the Water Quality and Fish Yield in Weed-Infested and Weedless Fish Ponds in The Environs of Lake Kolleru, India

In the culture ponds of Lake Kolleru region, aquatic weed infestation is one of the major problems resulting in poor production of fish. One of the ponds studied in the environs of Sreeparru Village was infested with the submerged weed Vallisneria spiralis and the marginal weed lpomoea aquatica. Due to their luxuriant growth, the physico-chemical properties of water as well as plankton were severely affected resulting in a low fish yield of 2 t/(ha·yr) compared to a pond devoid of aquatic weeds - 4.13 t/(ha·yr) - located in the same area. In the light of this, the variations in the water quality and their impact on fish yield in the two ponds are compared and discussed.