ADAPTATION OF BIOFLOC AQUATIC SYSTEM FOR POLYCULTURE WITH TILAPIA (OREOCHROMIS SP.) AND RIVER PRAWN (MACROBRACHIUM SP.)

Aquaculture is a productive activity in economic growth due to market productivity which supports many Ecuadorian communities. However, exotic species has been the basis of this activity without considering the endemic and mega-diverse component of Ecuador. On the other hand, current aquaculture systems use a lot of water, generating discharge of nitrogen and phosphorus, causing a negative impact on natural watersheds. The present investigation focused on the diversification of aquaculture production and environmental care, through the polyculture of tilapia and river prawn, in a Biofloc system, which allows reducing the use of water, space, and food, taking advantage of all the nutrients of the aquatic environment without generating pollutant residues, from a carbon-nitrogen ratio of 20:1. The research project was developed under laboratory conditions at 2.728 amsl, for 8 weeks in pre-breading stages. Two factors were established in the study: type of culture (monoculture and polyculture) and production systems (traditional and biofloc), with three replicates. In the Biofloc system, the environmental variables such as temperature, pH, and oxygen did not show any significant differences between treatments (p <= 0.05), while conductivity and total suspended solids increased during the test, and the nitrification processes stabilized at day 28 with values of 0.06 +/- 0.01 and 0.35 +/- 0.09 ppm in ammonium and nitrite respectively. The bacterial load was higher in the Biofloc system (113.66x10(3) CFU/ml) with predominance of Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. The bioflocs showed greater volume in polyculture (17.62 ml/L) and 26% of protein. Under these considerations, the best productive performance was detected in the Biofloc polyculture with a total productivity of 142.86g/m2 (p <= 0.05). Therefore, diversification of species, types and culture systems are viable for aquaculture in Ecuador, generating an interaction between the chemical and biological components, allowing productive processes to be sustainable.