A Detailed Guide to the Main Crayfish Producing Areas and Farming Models in Jiangsu
Crayfish is a food ingredient that consumers love very much, especially in the summer in southern regions, where this delicacy is often enjoyed. Crayfish meat is tender, and stir-frying, garlic sauce, and five-spice are all good ways to prepare it. Many places in our country also farm crayfish, so which places in Jiangsu produce crayfish? What are the farming models?
I. Which places in Jiangsu produce crayfish?
The area of Jiangsu south of the Huai River all has red swamp crayfish, and the Lixia River area between the Yangtze and Huai rivers, especially Xuyi and Jinhu in Huai'an, is the most famous.
People in Nanjing and Huai'an already hold Xuyi thirteen-spice crayfish in the highest esteem. Crayfish can be prepared in many ways, and it is also a classic dish of Huaiyang cuisine, which is prevalent in Yangzhou, Huai'an, Zhenjiang, Nanjing and other places.
II. Main crayfish farming models in Jiangsu
1. Crayfish as the main species model
The crayfish as the main species model means that red swamp crayfish farming is the main activity in the pond, with a reasonable supplementary stocking of some large-specification silver carp and bighead carp fingerlings to regulate water quality and increase comprehensive farming benefits. There are 2 stocking models for red swamp crayfish: one is to stock crayfish seed in autumn. The stocking specification is 20 individuals/kg to 30 individuals/kg, the female-to-male ratio is 3:1, the density is 25 kg/mu to 30 kg/mu, and the time is from August to September. In March to May of the following year, the crayfish seed that has already reproduced is promptly caught and sold on the market, and the fry are left in the pond for grow-out crayfish farming. The other is to stock crayfish fry in spring. The stocking specification is 200 individuals/kg to 300 individuals/kg, the density is 30 kg/mu to 40 kg/mu, and the time is from March to April. The stocking specification for silver carp and bighead carp fingerlings is 4 individuals/kg to 6 individuals/kg, the density is about 200 individuals/mu, and the time is in May. Red swamp crayfish begin to be caught in June, with large ones caught and small ones left. Silver carp and bighead carp are caught together when the pond is drained at the end of crayfish farming.
2. Mixed farming model of crayfish and adult fish
Per mu, stock 1200 to 1500 crucian carp fingerlings of 20 individuals/kg, 500 to 600 bream fingerlings of 15 individuals/kg to 20 individuals/kg, and 100 to 200 silver carp and bighead carp fingerlings of 4 individuals/kg to 6 individuals/kg, with stocking time from March to April; crayfish fry are stocked at a specification of about 3 cm, with a density of 4000 individuals/mu to 5000 individuals/mu, from the end of April to the beginning of May. In this model, farming management mainly focuses on adult fish, and red swamp crayfish are caught starting from mid to late June using shrimp cages and ground cages, with large ones caught and small ones left. Adult fish are harvested around the end of the year according to market conditions.
3. Raising crayfish in rice fields
When raising red swamp crayfish in rice fields, ring ditches are dug around the rice field, and the shallow-water environment of the rice field is used to both grow rice and farm red swamp crayfish. It is an ecological planting and farming model that improves the comprehensive benefit per unit area. Rice is sown and seedlings are raised from late April to early May, and rice seedlings begin to be transplanted from the end of May to the beginning of June, using the transplanting method of shallow water, wide rows, and dense plants, and appropriately increasing the transplanting density on both sides of the ring ditch on the inner side of the field ridge to give play to marginal advantages. The stocking specification for red swamp crayfish is 200 individuals/kg to 300 individuals/kg, the density is 3000 individuals/mu to 4000 individuals/mu, and the time is from April to May.