Aquaponics for safe food production and

environmental sustainability
Presented by:
Md. Mosharraf Hossain
PhD Fellow
Roll No.: 02
Reg. No.: 48594
Session: 2017/18

Department of Aquaculture
Bangladesh Agricultural University
Mymensingh
 Supervisory Committee
Dr. Md. Abdus Salam
Supervisor Professor
Department of Aquaculture, BAU, Mymensingh

Dr. Tanvir Rahman

Co-Supervisor Associate Professor
Department of Aquaculture, BAU, Mymensingh

Dr. Gias Uddin Ahmed

Member Professor
Department of Aquaculture, BAU, Mymensingh
 Presentation Outline

 Background with
Justification
 Objectives

 Materials and Methods

 Expected Outcomes

 Activity Planning

 Time Schedule
 Background with Justification
 The human population worldwide currently
exceeds 7 billion, and it is projected to reach
8.5 billion by 2030, and 9.7 billion by 2050
(UN, 2016).
 Fish production increased both nationally as
well as globally. Bangladesh is now in 3rd
position among the fish producing countries
in the world after China and India
(FAO, 2018);
 Production of safe food for huge population
has become the burning question at the
present era;
 Bangladesh is a small but highly disaster
prone country with huge population
 Pond based aquaculture is being intensified
but flood and cyclones sweep away the crops
and farmers incurred huge loss in every year.

Source: The Daily Prothom Alo (14.07.2018)

 Background with Justification (Contd..)
 On the other hand, massive croplands are being
converted to other uses every day that is also
creating pressure on natural resources;
 To keep pace with the growing food demand,
farmers using various chemicals to boost up
cereal production that creates human health
hazards as well as environmental problems around
the world;
 For taking these chemically enriched foods,
people are suffering from various harmful
diseases;
 These activities have adverse impacts on
surrounding aquatic ecosystems- such as loss of
biodiversity, habitat destruction and hampered
breeding etc;
 Background with Justification (Contd..)
 Moreover, the production cost of fish and
vegetables getting higher and higher
everyday;
 In this situation we need such a climate
smart and eco-friendly and sustainable
technology for food production which can
handle current problems efficiently;
 Aquaponics is such type of technology which
can produce relatively safe food (fish and
vegetables) and keep the environment
hazard-free
 It is an environmental friendly, climate-
smart and sustainable food production
system which can able to handle water
scarcity, soil degradation, climate change and
environmental pollution through producing
safe food for ever increasing world
population (Salam et al., 2014).
 Background with Justification (Contd..)

What is Aquaponics?
‘Aquaponics is the art of
growing food with fish poop’, “Essentially, all life depends upon the
soil ... There can be no life without soil and
(Anonymous) no soil without life; they have evolved
together.” Charles E. Kellogg
An integration of two systems:
Hydroponics and Aquaculture
 Background with Justification (Contd..)
Why aquaponics?
• Reduced labour ;
• Higher production rate in limited space;
• No chemical fertilizer or pesticidies are used;
• Zero water exchange;
• Aquacultural waste products are used;
• Provides income from two separate products;
• Year round production can be possible;
• Can be used in underground and indoors; and
• Works in draught or places with poor soil
quality.
 Background with Justification (Contd..)
Environmental, economic and social impacts of aquaponics
Category Impacts
(1) Use and recycling of water resources;
(2) Energy consumption & production;
Environmental (3) Recycling of organic waste ; and

(4) New landscape opportunities.

(1) Increased food production;
Economical (2) Allows for the utilization of labor and land of elderly and
house wives; and
(3) Using the waste stream to provide total energy needs of an
aquaponics system.
(1) Improving community food security;
Social (2) Providing a source of relatively cheap protein; and
(3) Important to low-income individuals in both developing and
developed countries.
Why aquaponics Considered Sustainable?
Waste from fish is used to feed the plants;
Fish and plants create a symbiotic relation;
Water is re-used in this system;
Local food production enhances the local
economy and reduces food transportation
costs; and
Continuous supply of organic fertilizer.
 Background with Justification (Contd..)

How does aquaponic works?

 Background with Justification (Contd..)
Types of Aquaponic
System

Deep water culture (DWC)

systems

Nutrient film technique

(NFT)

Media-filled bed systems

(Flood and Drain Systems)
A Typical Design of Media Based
Aquaponics System

FISH
TANK

Aerator
 Background with Justification (Contd..)
 Several research have done on design,
production performances of fish and vegetables,
feasibility of different types of aquaponics etc. at
home and abroad;
 In Bangladesh, most of the research works on
aquaponics have done by Prof. Dr. M A Salam,
BAU, Mymensingh. No specific works have done
on the sustainability of aquaponics addressing
bacteriological profile of aquaponically grown
products in Bangladesh;
 Therefore, this research will be undertaken for
developing a cost effective aquaponic system to
produce safe food by utilizing rooftop or
backyard and fallow land to improve human
health and reduce environmental hazards;
 Objectives of the Study

Broad Objective
The proposed research aims to
conduct for developing a cost
effective aquaponic system to
produce fish and organic vegetables
addressing bacteriological profile that
will mitigate the increasing demand
of safe food and environmental
sustainability.
 Objectives (contd..)
Specific Objectives
• To optimize stocking density of fish and vegetables in aquaponic system;
• To assess the changes of water quality parameters;
• To evaluate the growth and production performances of fish and
vegetables;
• To measure the availability of nutrients and uptake by the plants;
• To identify the presence of bacterial pathogens and their abundance;
• To evaluate the cost-benefit ratio of aquaponic system; and
• To disseminate the developed aquaponic technology through extension
materials, trainings, workshops, demonstration and utilizing mass media.
 Materials and Methods
Study Site
The study will be conducted at BAU Aquaponics Oasis, Department of
Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU),
Mymensingh.

Laboratory to be used
Water quality tests, proximate analysis for feed, fish and vegetables,
bacteriological study of tank water and vegetables and nutrient analysis will be
done at Central Lab, Aquaponics, Fish Nutrition and Fish Disease Lab of
Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh.
 Materials and Methods (Contd…)
Aquaponic Components

• Fish tank (300 L)

•Plants grow bed
• submersible pump
• Air pump
• Air stone
•Irrigation tubes
•Water heater
•Filter
•Fish and plants
 Materials and Methods (Contd…)
 Experimental design
The experimental design will be
comprised of twelve fish tanks (300 L
each) of containing 200 L water and
twelve food grade plastic containers
(99.5×57×21 cm3) for vegetables bed.
Four treatments will be used and
each treatment containing three
replications.

Culture system
Media based aquaponics system.
 Materials and Methods (Contd…)

Water quality Tests

Water quality will measure every 15 days interval during
study period
Growth study
 Sampling will be done fortnightly for fish growth check;
 Weight gain, SGR, FCR, Condition Factor will be
recorded;
Bacteriological Studies
 Bacteriological studies will be performed fortnightly;
 Bacteriological analysis will be done to ensure the
presence and abundance of bacterial pathogens
particularly E. coli and Salmonella sp. in aquaponic
system.
 Experiment -01: Feasibility of tilapia and strawberry
production in media based aquaponic system
Background
Strawberry (Fragaria sp.) is a sodium-free, fat-free,
cholesterol-free and low-caloric food. These can able to
protect heart, increase HDL (good) cholesterol, lowering blood
pressure, and guard against cancer;
Many people tried to cultivate strawberries in aquaponics
without success because of failing to monitor the water quality
properly. While the plants need nitrates to survive, the high levels
of ammonia that can quickly kill them off;
To ensure a good growth rate of strawberry plants demanding
for the levels of N P K are 9-2.8, 25-0.4 and 6-2.5 ppm
respectively;
Soilless culture is a new method for the cultivation of the plants
in Bangladesh. Urban peoples paying their interest to grow
strawberry at roof top;
Thus, this experiment will be conducted to determine the
production capacity of tilapia and strawberry in media based
aquaponic system
 Experiment -01 (Contd…….)
Objectives
To see the feasibility of tilapia and strawberry production in media based
aquaponic system;
To assess the changes of water quality parameters in aquaponic system; and
To notify the presence and abundance of bacterial pathogens in the
aquaponic systems;

Treatment Tilapia Replications No. of strawberry

fingerlings/200L saplings
water
Experimental T1 50
design T2 60
3 8
T3 70
T4 80
 Experiment - 1 (Contd…)
Experimental layout

T1R1 T2R1 T3R1 T4R1

T1R2 T2R2 T3R2 T4R2

T1R3 T2R3 T3R3 T4R3

 Experiment - 1 (Contd…)
Preparation of fish tank and vegetables bed
 Experiment - 1 (Contd…)
Stocking of fish fry and planting
vegetable saplings
Healthy tilapia fry will purchase from local
hatchery of Mymensingh region;
Strawberry saplings will collect from Rajshahi
before stocking of fish.
Feeding
Commercial floating feed containing 30% protein
supplied twice daily at the rate of 3% for first
month, 2% for second month and 1.5% of body
weight for rest of the time.
 Sampling
Sampling will be done fortnightly for fish growth check, water quality,
nutrient analysis and bacteriological study

Parameter to be studied

Growth performance &

Chemical Analysis Survival rate
Water analysis
• Availability of nutrients, Body weight gain,
nutrients uptake by percent weight gain,
Water temperature, pH,
plants, proximate analysis specific growth rate,
DO, EC, TDS, nitrite,
of fish, feed and food conversion ratio,
nitrate, phosphate and
aquaponically grown food conversion
Ammonia
products; efficiency, protein
efficiency ratio (PER) and
percent survival rate
 Experiment - 1 (Contd…)
Isolation and identification of pathogenic bacteria
 The presumptive bacteria will be identified on the basis of morphology,
gram stain, KOH test, catalase and oxidase reaction and traditional
biochemical methods;
 To identify up to species level, PCR techniques will be used;
 Genomic DNA from the freshly cultured bacteria will be isolated by DNA
isolation kit; and
 The identification of bacterial isolates will be confirmed by amplifying and
sequencing of the 16S ribosomal DNA and species-specific PCR followed
by analysis of nucleotide sequences.
 Experiment - 1(Contd…)
Quantification and comparison of bacterial contamination between
aquaponic and non-aquaponic products

 Samples from the aquaponically grown strawberries and flesh of tilapia

will be tested for the quantification of pathogenic bacterial
contamination;
 Similar species of soil vegetables and pond rear fish will be collected from
market places for comparative studies; and
 Statistical analysis
All recorded data will compile using micrcomputer to assemble in tabular or
graphical forms;
Descriptive statistics will be done using MS-Excel and SPSS;
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) will be used to analyze if there is any
difference in means between the treatments to determine statistical significance
(p ≤ 0.05).

Expected output
Suitability of strawberry production in media based aquaponic system will be
known;
Taste of aquaponically produced strawberry will be known; and
Pathogenic bacteria will be identified if any; and
Cost-benefit ratio will be measured.
Experiment -02: Optimizing stocking density of tilapia in
media based aquaponic technique
Background
 Aquaponics is a novel alternative method of fish and crop
production system by combining aquaculture and hydroponics;
 The principle of aquaponic system is fish excrete contains
potentially toxic nitrogen compounds into nitrite and then nitrate
by nitrifying bacteria which provided in the system.
There also need to create a balance of the macro- and micro-
nutrient amount that fish can release in the water;
It is clear that the supplied feed and stocking density is directly
related to maintain the metabolites flow into the aquaponic
system; and
Thus, an experiment will be conducted to compare the effect of
stocking density on growth performance of tilapia (Oreochromis
niloticus) with bush bean in a recirculating aquaponic system.
 Experiment -02 (Contd…..)

Treatment Total biomass of Replications No. of Vegetables

fingerlings saplings
T1 1.5 kg/200L
Experimental
T2 2.0 kg/200L
design 3 6
T3 2.5 kg/200L
T4 3.0 kg/200L
 Experiment -02 (Contd…)
Methodology:
Methodology will be same as experiment -01

Expected output
 Optimum stocking density of tilapia will be ensured;

 Impact of total biomass of fish on vegetables growth will be

known; and
 Pathogenic bacteria will be identified, if any.
 Experiment -03: Optimizing density of tomato plant in tilapia
based aquaponic system

Treatment Number of Replication Fish density

tomato
Experimental
saplings/m2
design
T1 10 Best result
T2 15 from
3 experiment
T3 20 no.-2
T4 25
 Experiment -03 (Contd…)
Methodology:
Same as experiment -01

Expected output
Suitable stocking of tomato saplings in aquaponic system will be ensured;
Nutrient uptake rate by the tomato plants will be known; and
Cost-benefit ratio will be measured.
 Experiment 04: Effect of different media on Production
performances of bush bean in aquaponic system
Background
 A media bed in an aquaponic system that utilizes media such
as expanded clay, bricklets, gravels etc. as a foundation for root
growth. Water is pumped into a media filled grow bed and then
allowed to flow back to the fish tank.
Most grow beds are composed of heavy substrate such as clay
balls, gravels, sand, perlite, etc. These serve as support systems
for the plants and as bioremediation medias (Rakocy and
Hargreaves, 1993).
 Thus it is important to find out the suitability of other media
types to support plant growth.
Therefore, an experiment will conduct to compare the
production performances of vegetables on different media based
in a recirculating aquaponic system.
 Experiment 04 (Contd……)
Objectives:
 To assess the effect of different substrates on the vegetable growth
and water filtration capacity
To measure the nutrient uptake rate of different media
To evaluate the cost-benefit ratio of different media based
aquaponic system.
Tested crops
Fish : Tilapia Vegetables : bush bean
Treatment Media Replication Fish Vegetable
density saplings
Experimental
design T1 Bricklets Best Best
T2 Gravel result result
3 from from
T3 Bricklets and exp.-2 exp.-3
gravel mixed
(1:1)
T4 Char coal
 Experiment 04 (Contd…)

Methodology:
Same as experiment -01

Expected output
 Effects of performance of substrates on vegetable growth will be known;
and
 Water filtration capability of different substrates will be identified;

Methodology may be altered based on scope of works and resources arability

during the study period
 Activity plan
Sl no. Activity Duration
(month)
01 Literature review 06

02 Aquaponic unit installation 03

03 18
Experiments perform
04 Data compilation, processing and analysis 03

05 Preparation of PhD dissertation 06

39
Activity chart

40