Abstract
With the intensification of aquaculture, the structure and dynamics of aquatic ecosystems are highly affected. At the same time, for a pond fish farmer, one of the most important tasks is to establish and maintain stable and favourable zooplankton populations. In this paper, we assess the effects of different supplementary feed types on zooplankton communities in freshwater fishponds. In an outdoor, experimental fishpond system, carp individuals of 2+ years of age were stocked and fed with either a fishmeal-based diet (FF), a plant meal containing experimental feed (PF) or cereals (CT). To compare the diversity of the zooplankton communities, we used the Shannon diversity index, and to assess the effects of environmental factors and the feed ingredients, we applied canonical correspondence analysis. We described the dynamics of zooplankton communities, where the biodiversity of rotifera and Crustacean communities showed temporal differences. In order to examine the effects of feed ingredients, temporal clustering was applied. The different diets did not consistently alter the composition of zooplankton communities. Consequently, the plant meal containing experimental feed had no negative effect on the planktonic biodiversity, which makes it suitable as an alternative feed source for fishponds at the applied level.
Highlights
The human population is constantly growing, leading to a steady increase in the developments of agriculture and aquaculture
The highest density of zooplankton occurred in pond FF1 during the study period (22 September)
The lowest density was in the FF1 pond in August, while the lowest average density was for the wheat feed as control at the same time (Figure 2)
Summary
The human population is constantly growing, leading to a steady increase in the developments of agriculture and aquaculture. Aquaculture is the fastest growing livestock sector in the world [1]. Our ecosystems worldwide are rapidly losing their functional, genetic and phylogenetic diversity due to habitat changes, human exploitation of natural resources and the spread of pathogens, exotic and domestic animals and plants [2]. In addition to the economic approach to technological development in fisheries, the ecological approach should not be overlooked. The global fish production was over 171 million tonnes, 47% of which (around 80 million tonnes) were accounted for by aquaculture in 2016.
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