Abstract
In this study, we evaluated the potential of Salicornia neei, a halophyte plant native to South America, to treat saline effluents with simulated concentration of ammonium-N (Amm) and nitrate-N (Nit) in a similar manner to land-based marine aquaculture effluents. Plants were cultivated for 74 days in drainage lysimeters under three treatments of seawater fertilized with: (1) Nit + Amm, (2) Nit, or (3) without fertilizer (Control). Over five repetitions, nitrogen removal efficiency (RE) was high in both treatments (Nit + Amm = 89.6% ± 1.0%; Nit 88.8% ± 0.9%), whereas the nitrogen removal rate (RR) was nonlinear and concentration-dependent (RRday1–4: Nit + Amm = 2.9 ± 0.3 mg L−1 d−1, Nit = 2.4 ± 0.5 mg L−1 d−1; RRday5–8: Nit + Amm = 0.8 ± 0.2 mg L−1 d−1, Nit = 1.0 ± 0.2 mg L−1 d−1). Effluent salinity increased from 40.6 to 49.4 g L−1 during the experiment, with no observed detrimental effects on RE or RR. High nitrogen removal efficiency and significant biomass production were observed (Nit + Amm = 11.3 ± 2.0 kg m−2; Nit = 10.0 ± 0.8 kg m−2; Control = 4.6 ± 0.6 kg m−2) demonstrate that artificial wetlands of S. neei can be used for wastewater treatment in saline aquaculture in South America.
Highlights
Aquaculture provides nearly 50% of the world’s fish production, and this is expected to increase to60% by 2030 due to the growing demand for marine fishery products [1]
The development of marine recirculating aquaculture systems (RASs) is limited by the ability to efficiently treat saline wastewater, which accumulates a large amount of nitrogen compounds derived from the metabolism of culture organisms [3,4,5]
During the 74 days of culture, the ambient temperature and relative humidity conditions and the temperature, pH, and salinity of the cultivation system showed different levels of variability, and no rainfall was recorded during the experiment
Summary
Aquaculture provides nearly 50% of the world’s fish production, and this is expected to increase to. 60% by 2030 due to the growing demand for marine fishery products [1]. The development of marine recirculating aquaculture systems (RASs) is limited by the ability to efficiently treat saline wastewater, which accumulates a large amount of nitrogen compounds derived from the metabolism of culture organisms [3,4,5]. In these RASs, the removal of nitrogen compounds, mainly ammonium (NH4 + ). NO3 − is not highly toxic to most cultured organisms [10,11], with tolerable accumulated concentrations reported between
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