Balancing of nutrient uptake by water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) and mustard green (Brassica juncea) with nutrient production by African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) in scaling aquaponic recirculation system

From both engineering and economic perspectives, goals of an aquaponic recirculation system are keeping a healthy environment for fish and plant, by eliminating toxic metabolites and growth-inhibiting substances. The type and quantity of waste excretions produced by the cultured organisms are also the important considerations, especially in designing the component system. Therefore, to be effective at nutrient removal, aquaponic systems should be sized correctly to balance fish output and nutrient uptake by plants. In this study, the plant component was isolated from the fish rearing operation so that nutrient removal could be evaluated independently. Two leafy green vegetables, i.e. water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) and mustard green (Brassica juncea) were selected to evaluate the effectiveness of plant nutrient uptake to balance nutrient production from fish culture. Results indicated that nitrogen utilization efficiencies of water spinach and mustard green were 66.5 and 59.9%, respectively. In addition, water spinach-based aquaponics had better water quality than that of mustard green-based aquaponics, primarily due to its higher root surface area. The growth performance of African catfish showed the feed conversion ratio was in the range 1.18-1.33. The results obtained from this study indicated that both crops have considerable impacts on nutrient removal.