Special training courses at AQD’s freshwater station

Fourteen staff based in AQD's Binangonan Freshwater Station (BFS) participated in a special in-house trainors' training on Natural Food Culture and Feed Formulation conducted November 12-22, 2007. The training course intended to upgrade the skills of BFS staff in the preparation and formulation of aquatic animal feeds.

Ms. Antonieta Evangelista, Ms. Alma Lazartigue, and Mr. Manuel Laron lectured on natural food culture, computation of plankton density, nutrition and feeding, feed formulation, and feed preparation & proper storage.

The participants were given hands-on training on the proper techniques in phytoplankton isolation and identification, media preparation, phyto- and zooplankton culture, processing of indigenous raw materials as feed ingredients, preparation of feed ingredients, and the production of tilapia feeds.

Cyanobacteria training

In another training, two graduate students from the University of the Philippines' College of Engineering attended a special training the proper techniques in phytoplankton isolation and identification, media preparation, and phytoplankton culture. The main resource persons were Ms. Antonieta Evangelista, Dr. Maria Lourdes Aralar and Ms. Alma Lazartigue.

The topics helped the students prepare for the conduct of their masteral theses which focus on the blue green algae (Microcystis sp), the toxins they produce and the presence of these cyanobacteria in natural water bodies.