Evaluation of organic and inorganic fertilizers in brackishwater milkfish ponds

Abstract

The study was conducted in twelve 144-m 2 ponds to evaluate the effect of different organic and inorganic fertilizers on the growth, survival, gross production, and profitability of marketable milkfish. The following treatments were used: Treatment I, SEAFDEC traditional fertilization practice (16-20-0 at 50 kg/ha and 45-0-0 at 15 kg/ha); Treatment II, half-dosage of Treatment I; Treatment III, chicken manure at 0.5 ton/ha; and Treatment IV, MASA (processed from agricultural and industrial wastes) fertilizer at 0.5 ton/ha. All treatments were applied once in every 2 weeks. No significant difference ( P > 0.05) existed in the harvest and production of milkfish among the treatments. However, economic indicators such as return-on-investment (ROI), payback period, and marginal analysis ranked the performance of the fertilizer treatments in the order of I, II, III and IV. Fish kills occurred in three ponds applied with chicken manure and MASA fertilizer. This could have been due to a heavy build-up of organic matter in the pond bottom which led to the collapse of the benthic algal community, depletion of dissolved oxygen and the presence of hydrogen sulfide. It is therefore suggested that a lower dosage of organic fertilizer should be applied in ponds especially during the rainy season.