Aquaponics
Aquaponics is a technique which is a combination of
aquaculture (growing fish) and hydroponics (growing plants in non-soil media
and nutrient-laden water). Aquaponics may also prevent toxic water runoff. It
also maintains ecosystem balance by recycling the waste and excretory products
produced by the fish. In India, aquaponics was started in 2013. Some primary
methods of aquaponic gardening that are in use nowadays are as follows:
(i)
Deep
water culture is otherwise known as raft based method. In this method a raft floats in water. Plants
are kept in the holes of raft and the roots float in water. This method is
applicable for larger commercial scale system. By this method fast growing
plants are cultivated.
(ii)
Media
based method involves growing plants in inert planting media
like clay pellets or shales. This
method is applicable for home and hobby scale system. Larger number of fruiting
plants, leafy green plants, herbs and other varieties of plants can be
cultivated (Figure 13. 8)
(iii)
Nutrient
Film technique involves the passage of nutrient rich water through a narrow trough or PVC pipe.
Plants are kept in the holes of the pipe to allow the roots to be in free
contact with in the water stream.
(iv) Aqua vertica is otherwise known as vertical aquaponics. Plants are stacked on the top of each other in tower systems. Water flows in through the top of the tower. This method is suitable for growing leafy greens, strawberries and other crops that do not need supporting solid substratum to grow.
Water conservation: No need of water discharge and recharge as the water is maintained by recycling process.
Soil: Bottom
soil may be loaded with freshwater. Microbes in water can convert the waste materials into usable forms
like ammonia into nitrates which are used by the plants. Thus the soil
fertility is maintained
Pesticides: In this
system use of pesticides is avoided and hence it is eco-friendly.
Weeds: Since
the plants are cultured in confined conditions, growth of weeds is completely absent. The utilization of
nutrient by plants is high in this method Artificial
food for fishes: In this system plant waste and decays are utilized by fishes as food. So, the need for the
use of supplementary feed can be minimized. Fertilizer usage: Artificial or chemical fertilizers is not
required for this system since the
plants in the aquaponics utilize the nutrients from the fish wastes dissolved
in water
Cultivable fishes like tilapia, trout, koi, gold
fish, bass etc., are cultured in aquaponics. Common cultivable plants like
tomato, pepper, lettuce, cucumber, and rose are co-cultivated in this method.
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