ISHS Acta Horticulturae 648: South Pacific Soilless Culture Conference - SPSCC
AQUAPONIC PRODUCTION OF TILAPIA AND BASIL: COMPARING A BATCH AND STAGGERED CROPPING SYSTEM |
| Authors: | J. Rakocy, R.C. Shultz, D.S. Bailey, E.S. Thoman |
| Keywords: | hydroponic, aquaponics, aquaculture, recirculating system, nutrient |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2004.648.8 |
| Abstract:
Aquaponics is the combined culture of fish and hydroponic plants in recirculating systems. Aquaculture effluent provides most of the nutrients required by plants if the optimum ratio between daily feed input and plant growing area is maintained. An experiment was conducted in an outdoor, commercial-scale aquaponic system on 0.05 ha of land in the tropics. The objectives were to determine the production of tilapia and basil using batch and staggered cropping systems, compare aquaponics with field crop production and evaluate the ratio of feed input to plant growing area. The projected annual production of tilapia was 4.37 t. The mean yield of basil was 2.0, 1.8 and 0.6 kg/m2 using batch, staggered and field cropping systems, respectively. Projected annual production of the system was 5.0 t of basil with staggered production. Nutrient deficiency symptoms appeared only in the batch-cultured basil. The feed input ratio was 81.4 g/day/m2 for batch culture and 99.6 g/day/m2 for staggered production. Staggered production moderated the uptake of nutrients. Basil production is sustainable in an aquaponic system with a feed input ratio of 99.6 g/day/m2 and a staggered cropping system. | |
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