An Approach to Measure the Biomass of Bloodworms (Diptera: Chironomidae) in Different Nutrients

Due to their rich nutrient content, late stage Chironomus larvae or bloodworms are considered as the most preferred natural food source of cultured fish. However, it is not popular due to its high cost and low availability. Bloodworm culture is still in its infant stage and mainly therefore harvested from nature. The objective of the study was to achieve a cost-effective culture practice of this insect under laboratory conditions. For this experiment four types of diets were selected, namely, dried potato peel powder (F1), commercial baker’s yeast powder (F2), a mixed culture medium (F3) and commercial fish food powder (F4) along with a control culture medium. The result showed a significant effect of diet on both wet mass [F = 40937.78 > F 0.01 (3, 8)] and biomass [F = 13882.84 > F 0.01 (3, 8)] of bloodworms. The biomass was almost similar when larvae were fed commercial fish food and mixed diet respectively, but the mixed diet was more cost effective and a rich source of both carbohydrates and protein.