Abstract
Nitrogen budget under integrated production system in fish farming is one of the acceptable practices in maintaining ecological balance and circulation. This result reveals the patterns of pond water and nutrient flows which were strongly influenced by the main fish farming activities resulting to large amount of nitrogen inputs. The main nutrient input sources of nitrogen into the system were found to be pig manure, feed and maggot while outputs were in water, soil, harvested fish and rice; and also in unaccounted forms as a result to discharge. Nutrient composition of rice paddy in integrated production system records 17% N, 19% P and 64% K. The NPK value recorded in integration production system throughout the period of the experiment showed significant difference (p>0.05). There was a positive correlation between nitrogen in rice and rice growth r=0.8373 and 0.7709. The Increase in nutrient is correlated with the increase in the rating of rice growth. The increase in nutrient of unaccounted forms which accumulate in the sediments absorbed by the plant from the soil plays an important role in balance of an aquaculture system. Thus, in order to ensure sustainable productivity there is need to enhance the management of all the nutrient input channels while minimizing the nutrient output through crop intensification. Key words: Nutrient budget, nutrient input, nutrient output, pond effluent, soil, amendment.
Highlights
The aquaculture industry faces growing pressure to operate under strict environmental safety standards
The composite sediments samples were air-dried at room temperature; sample was dried at 105°C to a constant weight for the determination of bulk density (Boyd, 1998), sampled for further chemical analysis: Organic matter (Walkley-Black), total nitrogen (Kjeldahl), available phosphorus (Bray-2) and exchangeable potassium (BaCl2 0.1 N solution)
The pH value obtained in this study showed significant difference (p>0.05) and it was seen that there was a positive relationship
Summary
The aquaculture industry faces growing pressure to operate under strict environmental safety standards. These standards lead to the development of integrated agriculture-aquaculture systems, designed to maintain a high biological carrying capacity (Twarowska et al, 1997; Thoman et al, 2001). Water exchange and cost in these systems are minimized through the use of biological, chemical and nutrient efficiency in the pond system. Fish farming has been an important development in recent decades in response to the growing global market demand (Costa-Pierce, 2002). Meeting the demand for fish farming in production systems has developed ranging from extensive to semi-intensive with increasing use of artificial food and high water quality (Crab et al.., 2007).
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