Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

Vol 21, Issue 3, 2015; Page No.(1303-1309)

INNOVATIVE LOW COST AERATORS DEVELOPED BY INDIAN FISH FARMERS

Shivta Kureel and Arpita Sharma

Abstract

Aquaculture has contributed to both social and economical growth of the Nation and it is considered as the fastest food growing sector. Innovative methods are being developed by fish farmers which need to be documented. Moreover, with this decade being Decade of Innovation, there is an urgent need to appreciate the grassroot innovations happening in aquaculture sector. Grassroot innovation is defined as creation, modification or improvements of an idea or products which is novel, has practical usefulness, provide solution to addressed problem and is developed by non professional individual(s) by their wisdom. In the field of aquaculture, dissolved oxygen (DO) is one of the most important parameters of water quality, lack of which may limit the activities of fish. Hence, aerators are provided for mechanical supplementation of normal oxygen supply. However, the commercial aerators present in the market are very expensive and all farmers may not be able to afford these. Primarily due to this reason, farmers with their experience and knowledge have developed low cost aeration device. This paper discusses about innovative low cost aerators developed by farmers to improve DO in water and enhancing water circulation. The appropriateness of these low cost innovations have been tested on six parameters, i.e. economic advantage, ease of use, sustainability, replicability, uniqueness and scientific value on 5 point Likert scale by respondents who were Bachelors in Fisheries Sciences. According to respondents, the low cost aeration devices were found to be appropriate with score above 3/5. Agreement among the respondents was tested by calculating Kendall’s Coefficient of concordance the value of which was 0.67 suggesting agreement among the respondents while scoring the appropriateness of innovative aerators.

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