GROWING OF VEGETABLES IN AN INTEGRATED BIOFLOC SYSTEM WITH NILE TILAPIA (Oreochromis niloticus).
Aquaponics; Flocponics; sustainable aquaculture; food production; aquaculture production
The urbanization process is a global trend and one of the challenges of urban areas is to ensure food for the inhabitants. It is necessary to seek alternatives to ensure food in sufficient quality and quantity to meet the demand of the inhabitants of these regions. In this sense, FLOCponic is a viable alternative, as it is characterized by optimizing space, water resources and nutrients, making it possible to produce species of different trophic levels, such as fish and vegetables, in a single system. This work sought to improve the efficiency of sustainable food production by optimizing the use of nutrients in biofloc fish farming in an integrated way with vegetable cultivation. The cultivation of vegetables was carried out with the surplus nutrients from the food and excreta of the fish, thus optimizing the nutrients that would previously be unused, or that could even cause imbalance in the cultivation system. Twelve experimental units were used, consisting of two circular boxes with a capacity of 500L and 100L, of which 4 units Nile tilapia and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), 4 units (Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) + arugula (Eruca sativa)), and 4 units with only Nile tilapia (control), each experimental unit received 80 Nile tilapia fingerlings with an average weight of 3.39g. For water quality control, dissolved oxygen, temperature, water conductivity, ammonia (NH3), nitrite (N-NO2), nitrate (N-NO3), orthophosphate (PO4), alkalinity (CaCO3), pH and total suspended solids (TSS). The insertion of vegetables in the system increased the absorption of Nitrogen ( N ) and Phosphorus ( F ) from the system.