Integrated pest and disease management in aquaponics: A metadata‐based review

Abstract

Aquaponics has the potential to produce sustainable, high‐quality food through integration of hydroponics and aquaculture, but its commercialization is stalled by bottlenecks in pest and disease management. We reviewed integrated pest and disease management steps and techniques in hydroponics to qualify as suitable techniques for different aquaponic designs. Non‐chemical prophylactic measures are highly proficient for pest and disease prevention in all designs. Still, the use of chemical control methods remains highly complicated for all systems. We simulated 10–20% runoff concentrations of 9 pesticides in the common UVI design and compared them with NOEC, LC50 of fish. Endosulfan seems most toxic with runoff AI (20.7 μg L−1) exceeding LC50 (10.2 μg L−1) and NOEC (0.05 μg L−1). At 20% runoff, most chemical pesticides pose risks in aquaponic systems. Natural pesticides were also discussed as potential alternatives with low acute toxicity to fish, but little is known about their effects on water and bacteria. While insecticides and herbicides are replaceable by well‐established commercial biocontrol measures, fungicides and nematicides would still be relevant in aquaponics due to low efficiency of alternatives (e.g. natural enemies, entomopathogenic fungus). Monitoring and cultural control are the first approaches to contain pest population below the action threshold. Biological controls, in general, are adaptable to a larger extent. Further studies are required on how to utilize indigenous microbial community in aquaponics (dominated by Proteobacteria; effective at ~103–109 CFU mL−1) as a frontline defence.

The aquaponic principle—It is all about coupling

“…We consider this term to be inappropriate and counterintuitive in that subsystem coupling is the very nature of the aquaponic principle. The subsystems are decoupled by interrupting the connection between both units in the event of a production break, maintenance, pest management, 105 or accident. In the dichotomy, ‘coupling’ is used according to its sense: ‘water and nutrient savings can be established by coupling water streams between interacting processes’ 6 whereas ‘decoupling’ has rather the sense of ‘detached’, as is shown, for example, in ‘these convenient fuels have allowed us to decouple human demand from biological regeneration’ 106 .…”

“…The subsystems are decoupled by interrupting the connection between both units in the event of a production break, maintenance, pest management, 105 or accident. In the dichotomy, 'coupling' is used according to its sense: 'water and nutrient savings can be established by coupling water streams between interacting processes' 6…”

Hydroponic Garlic Production: An Overview

“…Garlic doesn't have insect problems, basically it is an insect repellent crop. Attack of thrips was observed in hydroponic cultivation of garlic which can be controllable (Folorunso et al, 2021). Pest control is necessary to prevent damage to the seedlings and producing plants.…”

Potential use of entomopathogenic and mycoparasitic fungi against powdery mildew in aquaponics

“…Therefore, there is a need to establish control methods with little or no negative influence on plants, fish, and beneficial bacteria. In previous studies focused on identifying an integrated pest and disease management suitable for aquaponics (Folorunso et al, 2021), it was found that existing commercial biological controls are natural remedies for aquaponics pests and could pose little or no harm to non-target organisms. On the other hand, pathogen management still relies on chemical controls, which can pose high toxicity risk to fish and beneficial bacteria.…”

“…Chemical fungicides have primarily been most widely used control mechanisms in stand-alone hydroponics or field agriculture. But, as stated, spray drifts of fungicides in hydroponics units can cause harmful effects to fish and beneficial bacteria in coupled aquaponics where the water is recircled back to the fish and the biofilter or limit the water reuse capacity of decoupled aquaponics systems (Folorunso et al, 2021;Rasǩovićet al, 2021). Thus, consensus efforts are currently being channeled towards developing control approaches with little or no effects on non-target organisms.…”