Abstract
Shrimp aquaculture has been the fastest growing and diversifying food production industry in the world. On the other hand, basil is an important herb moderately salt-tolerant, which is among the most main crops which essential oils stand out for the quality and chemical diversity. This paper evaluates the performance of an aquaponic shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)-basil (Ocimum basilicum) system in terms of water quality, water use, and nutrient removal. This aquaponic system consists of three units (aquaculture; water conditioning; and hydroponic) coupled in a recirculation system using low-salinity water: well water (WW) and diluted seawater (DSW). The experiment was conducted over 78 days to characterize the performance of the proposed system, which reduces ~73% and 76% of the organic suspended solids, 23% and 18% of the total phosphorous (TP), and 24% and 21% of total nitrogen (TN) for WW and DSW, respectively. The reduction of TN and TP in the system implies a great efficiency in the use of nutrients, and consequently a low environmental impact. The water use by the shrimp biomass was 2.7 and 3.0 m3 kg−1 for WW and DSW, respectively, while by the total biomass (shrimp + basil) was 0.5 and 0.8 m3 kg−1 for WW and DSW, respectively. These results evidence that aquaponic shrimp-basil system remove N and P from water, improve water quality, enable efficient use of water and nutrients, reduce effluent discharge to the environment, as well as increase production.
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