Pond Fertilization Research Articles

SLAUGHTER CHARACTERISTICS OF BIGHEAD CARP (Hypophthalmichtys nobilis Rich.) REARED IN POLYCULTURE BASED ON NATURAL FEEDING IN THE PONDS

An experiment on slaughter characteristics of bighead carp ( Hypophthalmichtys nobilis Rich.) reared in polyculture of the same age, based on natural feeding in the ponds, was carried out at the Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture – Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Some of the ponds (First Group) were not fertilized and others (Second Group) were supplemented with manure at the rates corresponding to the standards of organic production . The structure of polyculture was one and the same in all the ponds: K 1 – one-year old common carp ( Cyprinus carpio L . ) – 500 pcs .ha -1 ( half being scale carp and the other half – mirror carp ) ; Tp 1 – one-year old bighead carp ( Hypophthalmichtys nobilis Rich.) – 30 0 pcs .ha -1 ; А 1 – one-year old grass carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idella Val . ) – 100 pcs .ha -1 . The bighead carp reached a live weight of 0.766 kg under the experimental conditions, the fishes in the ponds fertilized with manure being about 13.6% heavier compared to fishes in the ponds of the other group. It was established that the slaughter yield and the relative share of the fillet in bighead carp were in average 54.3% and 35.4%, respectively, and, pond fertilization and the amount of phytoplankton did not have a statistically significant effect on fish development. The pond had a significant effect exerted through its area and by overgrowing with macrophytes. Infestation increase by up to 30% had a positive effect on the weight of the cleaned carcass, the fillet and the slaughter output.

Study on Existing Technology and Knowledge on Aquaculture by Fish Farmers in Gomastapur Upazila of Chapai Nawabgonj District, Bangladesh

A total of 150 farmers from three unions in Gomastapur upazila under Chapai Nawabgonj district were selected for determination of their aquaculture technology and knowledge. In this study, 83% of the fish farmers were adopted with extensive technology and rest 17% with semi-intensive technology. The aquaculture knowledge consisted of 6 levels such as, remembering, understanding, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and creating. The aquaculture knowledge of the fish farmers on different aspect of pond fish culture practices such as, pond biology, pond preparation, species selection and stocking density, water colour monitoring, pond fertilization, feed and feeding, disease control, harvesting and restocking, risk management and marketing revealed that most of the fish farmers belonged to low knowledge category. A few portion of the fish farmers had high knowledge. Most of the fish farmers had relatively better score on the first two levels (remembering and understanding) of knowledge. The farmers had low score on the analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and creating component of knowledge. Among the personal characteristics of the farmers’ education, extension media contact and aquaculture training experience were observed to be significant and positively related with their fisheries knowledge. But age, total income, religious affiliation and family size of the respondents had no relation with aquaculture knowledge.

Use of organic and inorganic fertilization in zero-discharge tanks and ponds and its effects on plankton and shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei performance

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of organic (molasses) and inorganic (Nutrilake®) fertilization on plankton, water quality, and shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei performance reared in zero-discharge tanks and ponds. The findings showed that in tanks, the organic fertilization induced highest survival and production, and low total ammonia-N concentration; however, this effect was not observed in the ponds. In both tanks and ponds, the inorganic fertilization increased nitrogen levels. The phytoplankton abundance increased in both tanks/ponds with the fertilization treatments. Shrimp production in the tanks and ponds fertilized almost doubled compared with unfertilized treatments.

Productivity and biochemical composition of Tetradesmus obliquus and Phaeodactylum tricornutum: effects of different cultivation approaches

The present work evaluated biomass productivity, carbon dioxide fixation rate, and biochemical composition of two microalgal species, Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Bacillariophyta) and Tetradesmus obliquus (Chlorophyta), cultivated indoors in high-technology photobioreactors (HT-PBR) and outdoors both in pilot ponds and low-technology photobioreactors in a greenhouse in southern Italy. Microalgae were grown in standard media, under nitrogen starvation, and in two liquid digestates obtained from anaerobic digestion of agro-zootechnical and vegetable biomass. P. tricornutum, cultivated in semi-continuous mode in indoor HT-PBRs with standard medium, showed a biomass productivity of 21.0 ± 2.3 g m−2 d−1. Applying nitrogen starvation, the lipid productivity increased from 2.3 up to 4.5 ± 0.5 g m−2 d−1, with a 24 % decrease of biomass productivity. For T. obliquus, a biomass productivity of 9.1 ± 0.9 g m−2 d−1 in indoor HT-PBR was obtained using standard medium. Applying liquid digestates as fertilizers in open ponds, T. obliquus gave a biomass productivity (10.8 ± 2.0 g m−2 d−1) not statistically different from complete medium such as P. tricornutum (6.5 ± 2.2 g m−2 d−1). The biochemical data showed that the fatty acid composition of the microalgal biomass was affected by the different cultivation conditions for both microalgae. In conclusion, it was found that the microalgal productivity in standard medium was about doubled in HT-PBR compared to open ponds for P. tricornutum and was about 20 % higher for T. obliquus.

Effect of Pond Fertilization with Vermicompost and Some Other Manures on the Hydrobiological Parameters of Treated Pond Waters

Effect of Pond Fertilization with Vermicompost and Some Other Manures on the Hydrobiological Parameters of Treated Pond Waters

Effect of Pond Fertilization with Vermicompost and Some Other Manures on the Pathogenic Bacterial Populations of Treated Waters

Effect of Pond Fertilization with Vermicompost and Some Other Manures on the Pathogenic Bacterial Populations of Treated Waters

Bluegill yield in response to nitrogen and phosphorus versus phosphorus-only fertilization in ponds at different times since sediment removal

Abstract Nitrogen often is omitted in fertilization of sportfish ponds in the southeastern United States that have been fertilized for several years with both nitrogen and phosphorus. This practice was tested in 40-yr-old research ponds at the Auburn University E. W. Shell Fisheries Center from which sediment had been removed 2 to 9 yr earlier to restore bottoms nearly to their original soil composition. In ponds from which sediment had been removed 8 yr before, there was no difference (P > 0.05) in harvest weight of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) between ponds receiving nitrogen plus phosphorus fertilization (6 kg N and 3 kg P2O5 ha− 1 application− 1) and those fertilized only with phosphorus (3 kg P2O5 ha− 1 application− 1). Grass carp controlled aquatic macrophytes effectively in most ponds and did not interfere with bluegill yield. No correlation (R2 = 0.040, P > 0.05) was found between time since sediment removal and bluegill yield in 13 ponds treated only with phosphate fertilizer at 3 kg P2O5 ha− 1 application− 1. Concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus and total ammonia nitrogen in the water column were correlated (R2 = 0.312 and R2 = 0.514, respectively, P Statement of relevance This research work provides useful information for pond managers when developing a fertilization schedule. The results of the present study do suggest that after 2 yr of nitrogen plus phosphorus fertilization, pond manager might cease nitrogen fertilization and assess the response of the phytoplankton bloom. Omitting nitrogen fertilization from ponds lessens fertilizer cost and reduces possible nitrogen pollution of nearby natural waters.

Effect of Pond Fertilization with Vermicompost and Some Other Manures on the Growth Performance of Indian Major Carps

Effect of Pond Fertilization with Vermicompost and Some Other Manures on the Growth Performance of Indian Major Carps

IMPACT OF STOCKING DENSITIES, FERTILIZATION REGIME AND DIETARY PROTEIN LEVELS ON PRODUCTION AND PROFITABILITY OF MONOSEX NILE TILAPIA, OREOCHROMIS NILOTICUS, CULTURED IN PONDS

The relationship between fertilization and dietary protein levels ( 20%, 25% and 30% crude protein) on growth, survival, body composition and upper limit of production were investigated for three different densities ( 5, 10 and 15 fish/m3) of mono-sex Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, juveniles. The results showed that by increasing stocking density the growth performance significantly decreased (P<0.05), however, with fertilization this pattern demonstrated a positive relationship between density and final yield of O. niloticus juveniles with the increase of dietary protein level. Moreover, feed utilization and survival significantly increased (P< 0.05) in fertilized ponds regardless to dietary protein levels. However, feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein productive value (PPV), and protein efficiency ratio (PER) significantly improved with applying fertilizers in ponds in all stocking densities. Meanwhile, when increasing dietary protein level the PPV and PER where significantly decreased (P< 0.05). Consequently, with density 15fish/m3 and 20% crude protein the FBW, WG, and ADG were significantly low with unfertilized ponds, while the opposite was observed with low density in fertilized ponds. In addition, the final total yield produced was significantly increased with the increase of fish density per cubic meter in the presence of fertilization, and increased insignificantly with the increase of dietary protein level. Thus, the economic assessment revealed that fertilization resulted in the possibility of using low dietary protein levels, and so increased the total outcome profit. Also, high density prompts the increased of total yield per feddan which resulted in a significant high profit return per capita. Finally, the present study advises using high stocking density per cubic meter with fertilized ponds and low dietary protein levels for O. niloticus juveniles.

Temporal variation in pond use and breeding success for ducks in French fishpond regions: on possible consequences of a decline in fish farming

Fish farming abandonment or extensification may theoretically lead to contrasting consequences for waterfowl breeding in fishpond complexes. We investigated the variation of four indices of duck density or breeding success in pond samples of three main French fishpond areas: Dombes, Forez and Brenne, along with recent changes in fish farming management. In Forez, where fish stocking has been frequently interrupted or fish biomass in ponds has substantially decreased during the two last decades, duck pair density strongly increased in the same time interval, but Mallard Anas platyrhynchos brood size decreased. In Brenne, no fish farming abandonment was observed but pond fertilization with organic manure or mineral nitrogen became less frequently implemented during the 2000s. The duck brood: pair ratio decreased meanwhile, indicating either a lower nesting success or higher losses before or immediately after hatching. In Dombes, lower fish stock densities since the 1990s did not reverse a negative trend in duck populations which started in the early 1980s. Our results suggest that fish biomass density in fishponds might be a limiting factor for breeding waterfowl, but a decrease in the nutrient level, for example with lower fertilizer inputs, may negatively affect duck reproductive success.

Impact of using raw or fermented manure as fish feed on microbial quality of water and fish

The microbial water and fish quality was assessed due to feeding of chicken manure (CM) and fermented chicken manure (FCM) to fish in ponds, using Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) which were classified into 7 groups (G). Each group received different mixtures of CM or FCM with fish ration (FR), 0:100, 25:75, 50:50 and 100:0 (%CM or FCM:% FR). The obtained results revealed that total bacterial count (TBC) and total coliform count (TCC) were significantly high at P⩽0.05 in CM than both FCM and fish ration (FR). Escherichia coli and Salmonella were isolated from CM but not from FCM or FR. Additionally, TBC and TCC were significantly high at P⩽0.05 at water and fish samples raised at CM ponds followed by FCM ponds in comparison with FR. Both E. coli and Salmonella were isolated from water and fish raised in ponds receiving either CM or FCM with higher incidence in those with CM. However all water and fish samples examined were free from E-coli O157: H7. The obtained results, proved the influence of CM on water and fish quality and recommend the use of FCM as a bacteriologically safe fish pond fertilizer.

Influence of Protein Levels and Pond Fertilization during Broodstock Pre-Spawning Period on the Tolerance of Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, Fry to Winter Season Temperature

Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus females were fed three commercial diets (20, 25 and 30% crude protein) in 200 m3 earthen ponds fertilized with compost at rate of 25 kg/pond/week to evaluate their growth performance, seed production and survival rate of produced fry throughout winter season. Average initial body weight of females (19.30±1.05g) and males (23.45±2.1g) were stocked separately with density of 1000 fish/pond, and fed to satiation twice daily for 120 days as a pre-spawning period. Both sexes were then transferred to concrete ponds in hothouses with a ratio (6:2 females: male) per tank. During spawning period, broodstocks were fed a diet (25% crude protein) at 1% of their live body weight for 90 days. Last batch of produced fry were nursed in concrete tanks in hothouses, and fed on 30% crude protein diet for 45 days. Fry from each treatment was then transferred to wintering ponds, stocked at 500 fry/m3, and fed twice daily tosatiation for 120 days. Results indicated that final body weight, gain and average daily gain of broodstocks increased significantly (P<0.05) with increasing dietary protein level in fertilized ponds. Feed conversion rate and protein efficiency ratio improved, but insignificantly with increasing dietary protein level and with adding fertilizers. However,number of progeny increased significantly (P<0.05) by increasing protein level in fertilized ponds. Correspondingly, initial and final body weight of the offspring was significantly (P<0.05) triggered with increasing protein level and fertilizers. Also, feed conversion rate of fry improved significantly (P<0.05) with increasing dietary protein level and fertilized treatments. Moreover, survival of fry increased significantly (P<0.05) with fertilization treatments and increasing protein level. Therefore, the study highlights that by feeding O. niloticus broodstocks diets containing 25% crude protein supplemented with compost fertilizers during pre-spawning period, could be sufficient to trigger the production of viable fry that might tolerate low winter season temperatures.

Farmers’ Local Knowledge in Extensive Shrimp Farming Systems in Coastal Bangladesh

The study was conducted to analyze farmers’ local knowledge in extensive shrimp farming in the coastal area of Bangladesh. The relevant data were collected through farmers’ interview in the study area. Bangladesh shrimp farming are involved with traditional method and generally do not practice well-defined pond preparation, liming, fertilization, predator control or artificial feeding, where production is low, water exchange is irregular, and water management is very poor. In south-western region of the country traditionally two types of shrimp farming systems are practicing in Khulna region; i) rice-shrimp: shrimp with rice or alternate shrimp rice culture and ii) only-shrimp: year round shrimp culture systems. Farmers are doing their best to get optimum output with minimum investment and low risk. Pond preparation, feeding and fertilizing and fry stocking are the main components of shrimp farming. Farmers’ knowledge in these three components was found good in both farming systems. Around 80% of farmers have received training on different pond activities like pond preparation, fry stocking and water quality management. Thus the research concludes that shrimp farmers in the area are doing their farming by using their local knowledge what they achieved during long history of the traditional culture in the south-west coastal Bangladesh.

Winter Pond Fertilization Can Increase Phytoplankton Density in Aquaculture Ponds

AbstractEffective winter fertilization would be beneficial under certain production systems in the southeastern USA. Maintaining a phytoplankton bloom during the winter has the potential to shade macrophytes, discourage filamentous algae, and provide natural foraging opportunities for fish during warmer days; this would be advantageous. An additional benefit of a winter bloom would be to produce turbidity, thereby possibly reducing bird predation. The objective of this study was to determine if winter fertilization could increase phytoplankton to greater biomass than in nonfertilized control ponds. Six ponds served as controls and six ponds received an initial dose of nitrogen at 20 kg/ha and phosphorus at 2 kg/ha in mid‐November. Over the following five weeks, treatment ponds received one‐half the initial dose once per week, and then continued to receive the half dose once per month in January, February, and March. Fertilization led to increases in total ammonia nitrogen, nitrite, and nitrate. The water temperature ranged from a low of 5°C to a high of 16.8°C (mean of 10.2°C) over the entire study. Even though water temperatures were low and light intensity is less in winter, fertilization caused a significant increase in chlorophyll a over the study. The increase in total algal biomass was not due to an increase in any specific algal group, but rather a general biomass increase in most algal groups. Cryptophyta tended to be the most common phytoplankton division throughout the study. Although this fertilization protocol increased algal biomass, there were no differences in zooplankton abundance between fertilized and nonfertilized ponds. In contrast to the currently held belief that winter fertilization is ineffective, this study shows that winter fertilization can increase algal blooms. Therefore, future studies should determine if blooms created from winter fertilization can increase growth of planktivorous fish, shade macrophytes, discourage filamentous algae, or produce turbidity which could reduce bird predation.

Effect of Organic and Chemical Fertilizers on the Growth Rate of Tambaqui Fish (Colossoma macropomum) (Pisces; Characidae) in Floodplain Fish Ponds in the Eastern Amazon, Pará State, Brazil

The effect of organic and chemical fertilizers in fish ponds on the growth rate of tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) from Pará state, Brazil, was the objective of this work. Three 600 m2 fish ponds located in the floodplain of the Guamá River near the city of Belém, at 01°27’20”S; 48°30’15”W, were used where juvenile fish were subjected to three treatments: organic fertilizer (in fish pond 1); organic and chemical fertilizers (fish pond 2); and a control that was not treated with any kind of fertilizer (fish pond 3).

Zooplankton abundance and diversity of fishponds exposed to different management practices

The taxonomic composition and community structure of zooplankton faunae of selected earthen fishponds in Ife North Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria were investigated for a period of two years sampling every other month. The study was based on three sets of fishponds with regards to fertilization practice and water flow regime. These include non flow-through ponds that received organic and inorganic fertilizers (FNF); flow-through ponds that received organic and inorganic fertilizers (FF) and unfertilized flowthrough ponds. The zooplankton fauna of the fishponds comprised of 81 species belonging to three phyla namely Rotifera (62 species belonging to 16 families and two orders), Arthropoda (6 cladocerans, 2 copepods, 6 ostracods, 4 insecta and one arachnid species) and Protozoa which was represented by only one species. Zooplankton species richness indices were generally higher in the flow-through ponds than in the non flow through ponds with some species occurring only in the fertilized flow-through ponds. The flow-through pond had the highest number of species 54, while the least number of species 37 was recorded from the non flowthrough pond. The fertilized non-flow-through ponds also had the .highest mean abundance of 36762 ± 56162 ind/m 3 , followed by fertilized flow-through ponds (34346 ± 40784 ind/m 3 ) and non-fertilized flow-through ponds (16006 ± 41263 ind/m 3 ) descending order. The means in zooplankton abundance among the ponds were, however, not statistically significant. The fertilized ponds supported zooplankton abundance while continuous water flow as observed in the flow-through had direct influence on diversity and species richness. Hence to achieve the desired effect of pond fertilization on its primary productivity, this must be accompanied by adequate water flowage especially in shallow fish ponds. Keywords: Zooplankton, community structure, diversity, fish ponds, fertilization.

Antibiotic Resistance Pattern of Bacterial Pathogens Isolated from Cow Dung Used to Fertilize Nigerian Fish Ponds

This study was carried out to isolate and identify antibiotic resistant bacteria from cow dung used for pond fertilization. Cow dung from over 200 cows in NIFFR integrated farms, New-Bussa, Nigeria were collected. Six bacterial pathogens; Escherichia coli, E. coli O157:H7, Shigella dysentariae, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, and Aeromonas hydrophila were isolated. Antibiotic susceptibility testing by the disk diffusion method was conducted using ofloxacin, amoxicillin, tetracycline, ampicillin, erythromycin, gentamicin, nalidixic acid and chloramphenicol. All the isolated organisms were 100% sensitive to ofloxacin. The multiple resistance patterns revealed that 100% were resistant to tetracycline, ampicillin (85.6%), amoxicillin (83.3%), chloramphenicol (66%), gentamicin (47.6%), erythromycin (44.4%) and nalidixic acid (18.3%). The Public Health risks posed by the cow dung manure include proliferation of ponds with these organisms that are pathogenic to fish and man, contamination of the environment and the possible retention of these organisms in the table size fish.

Aquaculture Health Management: A new Approach

Aquaculture is gaining momentum in several parts of the world in recent years. Intensification has become a common practice in both finfish and shellfish culture to optimize the returns. High stocking densities, artificial feeding and pond fertilization have become common in both carp and shrimp culture systems. Due to intensification of culture practices, diseases of microbial etiology of economical significance has surfaced in rearing and grow out ponds and are major threat to the sustainability of the aquaculture industry. Synthetic chemicals and antibiotics have been used to prevent or treat fish and shrimp and have achieved at least partial success. Vaccination against specific pathogens has been developed recently with some success depending on the particular disease. An alternative approach has been the application of various compounds to boost or stimulate the innate immune system of farmed fish and shrimp. These compounds, termed immunostimulants is considered an attractive and promising agent for the prevention of diseases in fish and shellfish. In recent years, the established beneficial effects of immunostimulants in many livings systems promote their application for disease management in aquaculture practices.

Effect of the filter-feeder silver carp on the water quality of fertilized earthen ponds and Nile tilapia production

The objective of this study is to test the effect of silver carp on water quality and tilapia yield. This work was conducted in six 1000 m 2 earthen ponds which randomly assigned to two treatments. The first treatment was the cultivation of Nile tilapia with silver carp and the second was the cultivation of Nile tilapia alone without silver carp. All ponds were fertilized for the first three months with cow manure, urea and superphosphate to maintain a level of 2 mg N/L and 0.5 mg P/L in pond waters. Water samples were collected weekly and analyzed for temperature, DO, pH, Chl. “a”, avail. P, NO3, NH4, NH3, T. Alk., and T. Hard. Two-way ANOVA results indicated that the effect of the experimental period was the most important source of variation for the water quality parameters and it was responsible for 47 – 100 % of the variability for most of water quality parameters. The results also revealed that the presence of silver carp led to about 57% reduction of the chlorophyll concentration in the water column. Silver carp also was significantly responsible for 38 % of the variability of the total alkalinity concentrations and for 5-26 % of the total variability for pH, available phosphorus, ammonium, ammonia and total hardness however it was not significant. The results of factor analysis indicated that combined two factors (photosynthesis vs. respiration and pond fertilization) accounted for 40% of the total variability explained by the ANOVA model. The presence of silver carp reduced tilapia production by about 10%, but it increased the total fish production which in turn resulted in 25% higher net profit (1009 LE/ha) than that in the case of absence of silver carp, which appeared also in the B/C ratio of about 28% greater with the presence of silver carp than its absence. The stocking density of silver carp used in this study was not enough to obtain all benefits of cultivating silver carp with other fish species, therefore further trials are needed with different stocking densities.

Distribution of trematodes in snails in ponds at integrated small-scale aquaculture farms

In integrated small-scale aquaculture farming, animal and human excreta maybe used as fish feed and pond fertilizer, thereby enhancing transmission of fish-borne zoonotic trematodes (FZTs) from final hosts, like humans, pigs and chickens, to snails. Areas within a pond could vary in trematode egg-load due to the immediate bordering land, and this might provide implications for control of these trematodes or sampling in field studies measuring FZT prevalence in snails. We therefore estimated the effect of bordering land use on prevalence and FZT burden in snails in different areas within small-scale aquaculture ponds. Nine sampling areas within a pond were assigned in six ponds. For each sampling area, about 120 Melanoides tuberculata snails were collected. Based on land use bordering a sampling area, these were categorized in 5 risk-categories: low-risk (road, rice planted in pond, agriculture, or middle of pond), human access point to pond, livestock sty (pigs or poultry), both human access point and livestock sty, and water connection to canal. In total, 5392 snails were collected. Percentages of snails with parapleurolophocercous cercariae varied between 6% in areas categorized as low-risk and areas with livestock sty only to 15% in areas with both human access point and livestock sty; only this 15% was significantly different from the prevalence in the low-risk category. Percentages of snails with xiphidio cercariae did not differ between risk-categories and varied between 5% and 10%. Mean snail size was 15.2mm, and was significantly associated with both the probability of infection as well as parasite burden. Very small differences in parasite burden were found at different land use areas; the maximum difference was about 11 cercariae. This study demonstrated only small differences between areas surrounding a pond on risk of snails to be infected with fish-borne trematodes within different pond areas. In field studies on FZTs in M. tuberculata snails in ponds, sampling from ponds can therefore be done without considering areas within ponds.