ABSTRACT
The irrational consumption of water is one of the greatest problem in the world today. Irrigation of agricultural crops with fish effluent is one way to solve this problem. Rather than disposing of effluents gotten from aquaculture; then providing nutrients from fertilizer and irrigation from another source of water. We could use water containing fish effluent to irrigate agricultural crop. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of irrigating with water from fish ponds on plant growth in test plots in Yola, northeastern Nigeria. A field experiment was carried out in Yola Adamawa state at American University of Nigeria. The experiment involved a farm which was divided into the plots and 50 plant were present on each plot. Each plot were irrigated differently. After the germination of the crops the stem growth of the plants were measured. The data acquired was analyzed using ANOVA which gave a p-value 0.1 indicating that the result was statistically not significant. Although, there was no statistical significance the result was ecologically significant, because at the end of the study plants were taller on the fish water plot than any other plot. This
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finding is very import to farmer who find it hard to acquire fertilizer due to cost. It is also important because this type of irrigation is organic, environmentally friendly and a sustainable type of farming.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION …………………………………………………………………………………………….. iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………………………………. v
ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………………………… vi
LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………………………………….. ix
LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………………………………… xi
CHAPTER 1 ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
Benefits of aquaponics ………………………………………………………………………………… 5
Aquaponics in northeastern Nigeria …………………………………………………………….. 8
Advantages of integrating aquaculture with agriculture …………………………………. 9
RESEARCH QUESTION …………………………………………………………………………….. 11
HYPOTHESES …………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
AIMS & OBJECTIVES ……………………………………………………………………………….. 11
CHAPTER 2 ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12
MATERIALS AND METHODS …………………………………………………………………… 12
Study site …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12
Sampling …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14
CHAPTER 3 ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 18
RESULTS ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18
Table 1. Data collected showing different growth rate in different plot. Plants in each plot grew differently depending on nutrient available. ……………………….. 19
Presence of weed on plots …………………………………………………………………………. 20
CHAPTER 4 ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 23
DISCUSSION …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 23
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Comparing three plots ………………………………………………………………………………. 25
Presence of weed on plots …………………………………………………………………………. 26
Challenges ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 26
CHAPTER 5 ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 28
CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………………………………… 28
REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 29
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1A. Data collected showing different growth rate in different plot. Plants in each plots grew differently depending on nutrient available………………………..19
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LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 1. Aquaponics can be mobile like the image above showing an aquaponics setup on the top of a car. It can also be setup at different floors of a storey building and also a glass house………………………………………………………………………….4
Fig. 2. Diagram representing the irrigation of rice from fish reservoir. The channel are connected to reservoirs and the long arrows show the direction of water flow. ……………………………………………………………………….…………9
Fig.3.Map of Nigeria showing Yola the capital city of Adamawa state…………….12
Fig.4. Yola is the capital city of Adamawa state and located in Yola is the American University Nigeria where the study site is located. The study site is the American University of Nigeria recycling center. ……………………….………….…………13
Fig.5. Graph showing the Yola, Nigeria climate. The graph shows the high temperature and level of precipitation observed in this region………….………….14
Fig.6. Ridges dug for the plantation of the crops…………………………………..16
Fig.7. Ecological significant growth of plants found in fish water plot compared to plants found in normal water plot and plants found in fertilizer…………….………20
Fig.8A. Weed on plot watered with fish water. No weed observed……….………..21
Fig.8B. Weed on plot watered with only normal water. Little amount of weed observed……………………………………………………………………………..21
Fig.8C. Weed on plot watered with normal water with fertilizer applied on it. Lots of weeds present in this plot…………………………………………………..………..22
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Desertification is the process of soil degradation in arid and semi-arid areas and caused by human and climatic activities (European Environment Agency, 2013). As a result of this areas like Bucharest, the capital city of Romania have been forced to take up irrigation in order to present constant water supply for their crops. Irrigation is the artificial supply of water to farm crops and livestock. Irrigation for agriculture consumes 70% of the global water supply (Abdul-Rahman et al., 2011). Procedures of applying water to the soil are various, such as drip irrigation, which makes use of tubes or stripes for watering plants (irrigation). With drip irrigation, the water coming out of the tubes or strips is dispensed in little drops, directly into the roots of the plants.
Aside from drip irrigation, scientists and agricultural specialists are working on new techniques to improve crop production by using less water and conserving aquatic organisms. One such technique is using water from fish ponds.
Fish farming is a type of aquaculture, which is the farming of fishes under controlled conditions (Helfrich & Libey, 1991). Approximately 46,000 fish ponds produce 1.1 Gg of fish every year in Africa (Meso et al., 2004). During the harvesting process, the fish ponds are drained, leading to the discharge of fish waste. Before the invention of aquaponics (the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics), the fish wastes are poured on the soil and were allowed to flow into the waterways from the
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soil; since the fish waste is nutrient-rich those that remain makes the soil become nutritious.
Aquaculture is a sector of agriculture that is growing rapidly all over the world because of the demand for fish as food and other uses. Aquaculture includes the farming of finfishes, mollusks, crustaceans, amphibians (frogs), aquatic reptiles (except crocodiles), and other aquatic animals, such as sea urchins, sea squirts, and jellyfishes (Boison & Turnipseed, 2015). Aquaculture farmers are restricted to the farming of newly hatched, algae and also aquatic items needed for fashion and cosmetic, like shell buttons and pearls. The United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization defines aquaculture as the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans, and aquatic plants (Boison & Turnipseed, 2015). Historically, the water used for fish farming in aquaculture was disposed of, but this has changed in recent years, as fish pond water has been shown to be potentially beneficial to plant growth. Aquaculture depends on the constant supply of freshwater from rivers and other water sources, but discharging waste water from the fish pond to the freshwater sources degrades water quality of the source and may also affect the fishes reared in the aquaculture system (Trang & Brix, 2014). Fish ponds have begun to serve as reservoir for the irrigation of plants because the effluent of fishes deposited in the water is important for the growth of plants (Fernando & Halwart, 2000). As a result, integrating aquaculture and hydroponics (planting of crops in water and not soil) has become popular globally.
Around the 80s and 90s, the urban style of agriculture has experienced an explosion in terms of creativity and innovation. Living in the city where education, nightlife,
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and culture have become the day to day worries of the various individuals. With all the creativity and innovations, scientists came up with ways to access fresh food without importing from other places. Scientists came up with a technique which involves the integration of aquaculture and hydroponics is the best way to do it. However, the process of integrating aquaculture and hydroponics gives rise to aquaponics.
Aquaponics
Aquaponics combines aquaculture and hydroponics. Hydroponics is the process of planting crops in nutrient-rich water rather than in soil. It was developed during the 1980s became more popular in subsequent years (Elia, Popa, & Nicolae, 2014). As a result, others scientist are now researching about, developing, and diversifying the method. The combination of the two methods is known as a close-loop food production system, which results in little or no waste. The close-loop means that the waste obtained from one method becomes the nutrients, or input, for the other method. This is possible because aquaponics takes advantage of the natural nitrification process that is carried out by bacteria (Nicolae et al., 2015). Basically, in aquaponics, the waste obtainedfrom fish water in aquaculture serves as fertilizer for plants that are grown in hydroponics.
Functions of an aquaponics system
To carryout aquaponics, the first step is to setup a fish pond, water pumps, sump tanks, settling tanks, and grow beds, all of which are connected through a pipe system. The fish are fed the exact way as they are being fed in the aquaculture system. After digestion occurs in the fish, they release their waste, which includes
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ammonia, in the water. Since the aquaponic system is connected by pipes; the fish water flows through the pipes into the grow bed where the absorption of nitrate from the water takes place. After which the water flows back through the pipes into the fish pond. In the process of the flow backing into the pond aeration occurs in order to restore oxygen that has been used by the fish and bacteria.
Fig. 1. Aquaponics can be mobile like the image above showing an aquaponics setup on the top of a car. It can also be setup at different floors of a storey building and also a glass house. Credit: Nawar, 2014.
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Benefits of aquaponics
Aquaponics is a system that requires only one input: fish food. Fertilizers are not needed because plants are fertilized by the nitrates obtained from fish waste. This means the method can be carried out on a small scale or commercially (large scale).
Aquaponics was setup to improve agricultural systems in urban areas by turning industrial buildings and facilities that have been abandoned into aquaponic farms. It does not need an enormous amount of land or space because it doesn’t require soil. Instead, it uses vertical farming system where plants grow on storey buildings. The planting is done at different floors of a storey building. A combination of aquaponics and vertical farming systems uses abandoned industrial facilities because the facilities have been already constructed. These facilities are of major concern to public safety because the structures are not maintained, which makes them susceptible to increased structural damage and arson, which is concerning from a safety standpoint. Also, these facilities are located in areas where the individuals living there have no or low access to food. In addition, aquaponics offers other benefits, including producing foods that are healthy and environmentally friendly, which can feed a large community.
In regions that are arid or semi-arid, the use of water in the agricultural sector is of great relevance to minimize conflicts over water. Aquaponics is one way to minimize such conflicts. The method improves the quality of the water in fish ponds, and it minimizes the cost of water used (Castro, Borges Azevedo, & Bezerra-Neto, 2006). The only input in aquaponics is fish food; aquaponics does not require chemical based pesticides or fertilizers to aid the growth of crops or plants. The fact that chemical pesticides and fertilizers are not used in aquaponics means that every
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crop, plant, or food that is obtained from aquaponics is 100% organic. This also benefits the environment by keeping chemicals out of waterways and soil. Aquaponics also uses 90% less water compared to traditional agriculture.
Considering the fact that the idea of aquaponics surround the reuse of water, traditional agriculture are done outdoors because there is a limit to the kind to the crop that can be planted due to climate. Climate does not allow for the traditional agricultural system to plant certain crops at particular seasons, because the climate at those seasons does not support the crops. Unlike traditional agriculture, aquaponics controls the climatic conditions to which crops are subjected to because it is an indoor farming system. Thus, aquaponic farmers can extend their planting season to all year-round, for such crops as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy greens, herbs, and spinach. Climatic control also means that the aquaponic farmers do worry about weather-related crop catastrophes, such as drought or erosion.
Disadvantages of aquaponics
Although the aquaponic system comes with many benefits; it does not come without flaws. The aquaponics system is very expensive compared to the traditional agricultural system and it may not necessarily replace the traditional agricultural system completely because of the high cost of establishment and maintenance. For an aquaponics farm to become operational and remain operational, millions of dollars need to be invested. The construction of new indoor facility may cost up to $70-$85 dollars per square foot in urban areas, excluding the costs associated with the equipment needed for production, such as settling tanks and grow beds. The high
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cost of constructing an aquaponics farm is applicable to developing and undeveloped countries that do not have old or abandoned industrial facilities.
Aside from cost, plants in aquaponics systems need to be exposed to intense light for long periods of time – for 16 to 18 hours when they are not receiving direct sunlight(Tomlinson, 2015). Thus, a potentially expensive prolonged lighting source of energy is required to the production cycle. Thus, with indoor farming, glass roofing is advised when establishing an aquaponics farm because if the roof is not made of glass, then a more expensive source of light, such as UV light, is required.
In addition to the drawbacks of the aquaponic system, it has been argued that aquaponics is not as environmentally friendly as claimed by its supporters (Tomlinson, 2015). There has been question on whether the environmental benefit that comes with the disapproval of using pesticides and fertilizer is greater than the environmental cost of using an enormous amount of energy required for an aquaponics system. However, the aquaponics farmers have found various ways to fight both the operation cost debate and the environmental cost debate. The usage of already existing industrial facilities helps aquaponics farmers reduces the cost of constructing a new farming space. In addition, aquaponics farmers reuse materials that are found in the abandoned facilities or materials that are donated to them.
While reconstructing or restructuring the abandoned facilities aquaponics farmers can make use of renewable energy to reduce or eliminate the environmental damage that may result from the energy source. It has been argued that the benefit of establishing an aquaponics farming system is greater than the flaws. The argument was backed up by Tomlinson, L stating that aquaponics farms are a source of food
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all year round for dry land regions by using sites that are otherwise considered useless and dangerous(2015). Nevertheless, there is a still a debate about the viability of aquaponics, especially on a large scale and in developing countries.
Aquaponics in northeastern Nigeria
Aquaponics may be the solution to conservation of water, but it is very expensive especially for farmer in rural areas where there are no abandoned industrial facilities. Farmers in developing or underdeveloped regions (like Nigeria) might encounter difficulty establishing an aquaponics system of farming because it is not cost efficient. This study aims to introduce a sub-category of the aquaponics system of farming in Yola, northeastern Nigeria. This study looks to provides farmers of Yola, northeastern Nigeria, with an alternative to aquaponics system that is affordable. Unlike aquaponics, this alternative system of farming integrates aquaculture and traditional agricultural farming system. In this type of farming system water from fish ponds is used to irrigate the soil on which plants grow. Integrating aquaculture and agriculture generates higher yields and has very low risk especially for farmers of developing countries with low resources(Castro et al., 2006). Farmers in other regions also use this system for example in certain areas like China and Indonesia where fish reservoirs are made and used for the irrigation of most of their crops like rice, lettuce and tomatoes(Fernando & Halwart, 2000). This system of farming is hardly affected by weather and production of quality fish is done all year round. Integrating fish farming and agriculture holds much promise to obtaining profitable and sustainable farming enterprises(Fernando & Halwart, 2000). In Kenya 46,000 fish ponds are produced annually; the effluents from the fish ponds are high in nutrients and are applied to crops for irrigation water(EFFLUENT & CROP, n.d.).
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A report shows wheat grain yields ranging from 770 to 5,010 kg ha-1 with normal water and 2,140 to 5,790 kg ha-1 with aquaculture effluent (EFFLUENT & CROP, n.d.). Therefore, when water from fish pond is applied to the soil greater crop returns are expected.
Fig. 2. Diagram representing the irrigation of rice from fish reservoir. The channel are connected to reservoirs and the long arrows show the direction of water flow. Credit: Fernando 2000.
Advantages of integrating aquaculture with agriculture
The irrigation of crop using fish water has similar advantages to aquaponics because it is a sub-category of aquaponics. That is to say it increases the water quality of fish ponds, it reduces the discharge of effluent into water ways (stream, lakes, rivers and so on) and it reduces the chemical impact on the environment. In other words, it is a complete organic farming system and it is environmentally friendly. Most of all it is a cheap sustainable form of agriculture that can be applied by both rural and urban farmers. Therefore, I intended to test and determine the effect of irrigation using
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water from fish ponds on plant growth in an aquaponics-type study. In this research, I did not test aquaculture and hydroponics, but instead concentrated on combining aquaculture and traditional farming systems. To test the viability of this model for poor, rural farmers in the region, I focused on the effects of fish-pond water on plants growing in typical soil without the use of chemicals or fertilizers. This study ultimately aims to find new solutions to dryland agriculture challenges.
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RESEARCH QUESTION
What is the effect of irrigating with water from fish ponds on plant growth in test plots in Yola, northeastern Nigeria?
HYPOTHESES Null Hypothesis: Irrigating with water from fish ponds has no effect on plant growth in test plots in Yola, northeastern Nigeria. Research Hypothesis: Irrigating with water from fish ponds will improve plant growth in test plots in Yola, northeastern Nigeria.
AIMS & OBJECTIVES
Aims:
• To determine the effect of irrigating with water from fish ponds on plant growth in test plots in Yola, northeastern Nigeria
Objectives:
• To measure plant growth for plants irrigated with water from fish pond and plant given normal water
• To compare plant growth rates between test and control plots ….
• To share my findings with the AUN Sustainability Office
• To provide cheap sustainable agriculture to rural farmers in Yola northeastern Nigeria.
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