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351923

Monitoring of the Physico-Chemical Parameters of Water in a Small Scale Aquaponic System

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Last updated: 01 Jan 2025

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Abstract

Climate change, water scarcity, soil degradation and food security threaten the Moroccan agricultural production. Aquaponics is an approach that can offer an alternative sustainable solution for covering local food demand, offering inhabitants arid regions access to both animal and vegetable proteins. However, this technique was never performed in Morocco. This study aimed to contribute to the development of economically feasible aquaponics systems in Morocco. For this, 46 individuals of the Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)  were raised and likewise three varieties of leafy vegetables (Lactuca sativa and Basil Ocimum basilicum) were grown in order to assess the impact of nutrients contained in aquaculture effluent on plant growth. Temperature, pH, electro-conductivity (E.C), and total dissolved solids (TDS) were daily measured using a multiparameter instrument “Hanna HI9814", while dissolved oxygen (DO), ammonia (NH3), nitrite (NO2-), nitrate (NO3-), phosphorus (PO43-), and potassium (K+) were measured twice a week utilizing specific spectrophotometer HI801 of Hanna instruments. The Pearson coefficient, two-way ANOVA, principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis were applied to test the correlation between different water quality parameters. Good adaptation of fish and plants was observed, with zero mortality of fish and commercial plant yields after only 30 days of introduction to the system. Results have shown that fish excrements are enough to grow lettuce and basil in aquaponics. Strong and significant correlation under 95% of confidence was obtained between DO, phosphorus and pH, while temperature recorded a significant correlation with both DO and nitrates. With regard to this experience, it was concluded that the installation of aquaponic systems is highly feasible and that the water circulating in aquaponics has an acceptable nutrient potential in order to ensure good plant growth.

DOI

10.21608/ejabf.2024.351923

Keywords

Aquaponics, Aquaculture, biodiversity, Climate Change, Food security

Authors

First Name

Haytam

Last Name

Rharrhour et al.

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Orcid

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Volume

28

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

46351

Issue Date

2024-03-01

Receive Date

2024-04-26

Publish Date

2024-03-01

Page Start

871

Page End

882

Print ISSN

1110-6131

Online ISSN

2536-9814

Link

https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/article_351923.html

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https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=351923

Order

53

Type

Original Article

Type Code

103

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries

Publication Link

https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Monitoring of the Physico-Chemical Parameters of Water in a Small Scale Aquaponic System

Details

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Article

Created At

23 Dec 2024