Modern greenhouse culture of juvenile soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis

Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) is a favorite food for the Asian because of its high nutritional and medicinal value. Based on an estimate production of 350,000 MT in 2015, soft-shelled turtle culture industry in China values US$5.22 billion. In central China, overwinter in greenhouse is necessary for the juvenile turtle. The use of coal boiler to heat up the water to 30 degrees C is a common practice, however, brings in air pollution and CO2 emission too. A modern greenhouse equipped with ground source heat pump was built in 2010 and operated during 2014-2015 for 10 months to culture juvenile turtle. Besides heating system, the other innovative features such as skirt-shaped 3-D shelter, underwater feeding platform wok-shaped tank bottom with central drainage, and semi-homemade soft shell-shaped pellet together achieved excellent rearing performance, such as high turtle productivity of 23.7 kg m(-2), high survival 86%, low feed efficiency-feed conversion rate 1.26 and good water quality-dissolved oxygen > 5 mg L-1, and nitrite and ammonia concentration all time within safe range. Moreover, it is a lucrative business which brought in an estimated net profit of 76%.