Abstract
The increasing global population has led to an increase in food demand; consequently, aquaculture is one of the food production sectors that has offered opportunities to alleviate hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. However, the development of a sustainable aquaculture industry has been hindered by the limited availability of natural resources as well as its negative impact on the surrounding environment. Hence, there is an urgent need to search for better aquacultural production systems that, despite their high productivity and profitability, utilize fewer resources such as water, energy, land, and capital in conjunction with a negligible impact on the environment. Biofloc technology (BFT) is one of the most exciting and promising sustainable aquaculture systems; it takes into account the intensive culture of aquatic species, zero water exchange, and improved water quality as a result of beneficial microbial biomass activity, which, at the same time, can be utilized as a nutritious aquaculture feed, thus lowering the costs of production. Furthermore, BFT permits the installation of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems in which the wastes of one organism are utilized as feed by another organism, without a detrimental effect on co-cultured species. This review, therefore, highlights the basics of BFT, factors associated with BFT for the successful production of aquatic species, the significance of this food production system for the sustainable production of economically important aquatic species, its economic aspects, drawbacks, limitations, and recommended management aspects for sustainable aquaculture.
Highlights
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, aquaculture is one of the food production sectors that offers a golden opportunity to alleviate hunger, malnutrition, and poverty through income generation and better use of natural resources [1]
Biofloc technology (BFT) is one of the most exciting food production alternatives that has attracted the attention of the scientific community and producers for sustainable aquaculture due to (i) zero water exchange, permitting efficient use of limited water resources and preventing the discharge of nutrient-rich wastewater into the environment; (ii) reduced artificial feed input, which reduces the costs of production while permitting the inclusion of alternatively cheaper and highly nutritious protein sources, and (iii) natural establishment of microbial biomass that purifies water and enhances the growth, growth performance, and immunity of aquatic species reared in the system
The carbon–nitrogen ratio (C/N) plays a vital role in the immobilization of toxic inorganic N compounds into useful microbial biomass that might act as a direct source of food for the reared aquatic species
Summary
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, aquaculture is one of the food production sectors that offers a golden opportunity to alleviate hunger, malnutrition, and poverty through income generation and better use of natural resources [1]. Intensive aquacultural practices are of great environmental concern due to the discharge of nutrient-rich wastewater into the environment With all these constraints in mind, the development of sustainable aquaculture systems should focus more on system designs that permit the efficient use of fewer resources such as water, energy, land, and capital and minimizing environmental pollution and maximizing production and profitability. (ii) reduced artificial feed input (fishmeal), which reduces the costs of production while permitting the inclusion of alternatively cheaper and highly nutritious protein sources, and (iii) natural establishment of microbial biomass that purifies water and enhances the growth, growth performance, and immunity of aquatic species reared in the system The use of this system in farming practices for the production of crustaceans and some finfish species has been extensively studied [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. The aim of this review, is to (i) give a brief overview of BFT systems, including operational parameters that affect their efficiency; (ii) review studies that have been conducted on the application of BFT systems for the sustainable production of economically important aquatic species; (iii) highlight the economic aspects of BFT systems, as well as their drawbacks and limitations, and recommend management aspects of BFT systems for sustainable aquaculture
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