Project Title: “Socio-economic Empowerment and Capacity Building of Rural SC/ST Communities through Technological Interventions in Fish Farming” Funding Agency: Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi Innovation/Research: Development of Nutritionally Balanced Floating and Sinking Fish Feed Name of the Innovator (PI): Dr Akhil Gupta, Professor (Fisheries), Division of Fisheries, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu, Chatha- 180 009, Jammu, UT of J&K, INDIA Need of the Research/ Innovation: With the increasing demand for food fish and decline in capture fisheries production, aquaculture in India is heading towards intensification. The shift from traditional to semi-intensive or intensive culture, is consequently leading to an unprecedented rise in the demand for fish feed. Many farmers are shifting gradually from farm-made feeds to factory-made commercial feeds. Feed is the single largest input cost in fish farming, accounting for around 60-70% of the total operational cost depending on various factors, such as nature of pond bottom, water quality, culture practice and feed quality. At present, a number of feed industries have been established in India and are producing fish and prawn feeds commercially. But commercial feeds are very costly for the farmers to use for the culture of fish. MAJOR SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH/ INNOVATION • The work has been done under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi funded research project on "Socio-economic Empowerment and Capacity Building of Rural SC/ST Communities through Technological Interventions in Fish Farming ". • This research work helped in formulation of nutritionally balanced effective low-cost diet in aquaculture. • The present work is of great importance as we have- a) Identified major fish feed indigenous ingredients available in the local market of Jammu b) Developed and formulated low cost diets using locally available ingredients for commercially important fishes c) Developed nutritionally balanced floating and sinking fish feed for aquaculture practices d) Applied aquatic plants as low cost fish feed ingredients such as Azolla e) Better and sustainable aquaculture production by reducing input cost of feeding f) Organized number of trainings and capacity building programmes for entrepreneurship development in fish feed development among farmers and youth.