By M. Gulam Hussain
Overall editing and formatting by Alaina Dismukes and Laura Zseleczky
On behalf of the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), Yahia Mahmud, Director General for BFRI, officially received the rapid-growing WorldFish Generation 3 (G3) rohu, supported by Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish funding in recent years. During the day-long workshop held on August 8, 2023, Mahmud thanked the team of researchers responsible for developing the genetically improved generation of fish and making it available for dissemination to both the public and private sectors of Bangladesh.
"It is indeed a remarkable event to have this genetically improved strain of rohu for its necessary validation and comparative evaluation with BFRI’s recently evolved and released Subarna Rohu strain," Mahmud said.
The workshop—jointly organized by WorldFish, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish, and BFRI—was held at the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute in Mymensingh and brought together over 140 international and national participants from WorldFish, BFRI, Department of Fisheries (DoF), Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and fish hatchery owners and farmers from Jashore, Rajshahi, and Mymensingh regions.
Kh. Mahbubul Haque, Director General of DoF, was the chief guest of the workshop. M. Gulam Hussain, Fish Innovation Lab Asia regional coordinator, and John Benzie, acting director of Aquatic Food Biosciences for WorldFish, both were the special guests at the event, and the sessions were chaired by Mahmud.
The G3 rohu strains were released and grown in 19 hatcheries for an on-farm trial in 2022, and the G3 rohu trials averaged 37% higher growth than the conventional rohu strains. Subsequently, catla and silver carp strains were introduced for genetic stock improvement using similar selective breeding techniques.
At the same time, BFRI also initiated a rohu genetic improvement program using selection techniques. Genetically improved G1, G2, G3, and G4 generations of rohu have been developed by BFRI, and the G4 rohu strain achieved 20.12% harvest weight over the existing strain. On June 10, 2021, the G4 improved generation of rohu was named Subarna Rohu by BFRI, which has been released for quality seed production to support carp polyculture among government and private hatcheries.
During his address, Haque praised the teams of researchers for generating two similar genetically improved strains of rohu.
''The government of Bangladesh has a target to produce 8.6 million tons of fish per year by 2041," he said. "It is clear that much of this targeted production must come from aquaculture, so we will have to increase productivity. I believe the WorldFish G3 rohu and the BFRI Subarna Rohu will play a significant role in increasing aquaculture production in the coming years."
In his concluding remarks, Mahmud said, ''Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute has been working on stock improvement of various indigenous fish species. I believe that both WorldFish G3 rohu and Subarna Rohu will play a positive and pivotal role in further development of the country's aquaculture sector.''
The event was additionally reported on by some national newspapers and TV media in Bangladesh. Learn more at the following links:
Published August 18, 2023
