Relative Production Performance and Cost of Food Fish Production from Fingerlings of Channel-Blue F1 Hybrids, Ictalurus punctatus-Ictalurus furcatus, and NWAC-103 Channel Catfish, I. punctatus

Production studies comparing hybrid catfish (channel-blue), Ictalurus punctatus–Ictalurus furcatus, with NWAC-103 channel catfish strains have produced conflicting results depending on the size of fingerling stocked and maternal genetic inheritance. Generally, the strain with larger fingerlings at stocking tended to grow better than strains with smaller fingerlings at stocking. A production trial was conducted at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff research station to compare production characteristics and costs of hybrid catfish and NWAC-103 strains with similar stocking sizes of fingerlings and similar maternal inheritance. Ten 0.10-ha earthen ponds were stocked with 15,000 precision-graded fingerlings/ha (15–20 cm total length) of either channel-blue hybrid catfish or NWAC-103 channel catfish with five replicates of each treatment on April 14, 2006. There were no significant differences in growth, yield, survival, dress-out yield, seinability, and mean daily feed fed. The mean feed conversion ratio was significantly lower for the channel-blue hybrid catfish, but NWAC-103 channel catfish were more uniform in size at harvest. A partial budget analysis showed that, while the hybrids converted feed more efficiently, the benefit of the reduced cost of feed was less than the additional cost of the hybrid fingerlings. Thus, under the conditions of this study, it was more profitable to raise NWAC-103 channel catfish.