Plant and fish production performance, nutrient mass balances, energy and water use of the PAFF Box, a small-scale aquaponic system

Delaide, Boris; Delhaye, Guillaume; Dermience, Michaël; Gott, James; Soyeurt, Hélène; Jijakli, M. Haïssam

doi:10.1016/j.aquaeng.2017.06.002

Cited by 109 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…However, their studies did not discuss the causes of the variations among plant species. Although some studies examined the importance of optimizing pump size and flow rate to reduce energy demands at system-level (i.e., life cycle assessment) [68,69], crop growth rate was not taken into consideration.…”

Section: Plants Require Different Flow Rate Based On Their Growth Ratementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Hydraulic Loading Rate on Spatial and Temporal Water Quality Characteristics and Crop Growth and Yield in Aquaponic Systems

Yang

Kim

2020

Horticulturae

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Aquaponics is a rapidly growing food-production system integrating aquaculture and hydroponic crop production through an energy-intensive water recirculation process. Crop performance and yield in aquaponics are affected by essential and toxic nutrient levels in the root zone, which can be regulated by water flow rate. This study was conducted to examine the effects of hydraulic loading rate (HLR) on water quality and crop growth and yield in recirculating aquaponic systems set at three different loading rates: high (3.3 m 3 /m 2 /day; HFR, which is 12 times lower than recommended loading rate), medium (2.2 m 3 /m 2 /day; MFR), and low (1.1 m 3 /m 2 /day; LFR). Crop species varying in growth rate were examined for their optimal HLR: fast-growing Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa); medium-growing mustard (Brassica juncea) and chia (Salvia hispanica); and slow-growing basil (Ocimum basilicum) and Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris). Compared to LFR, HFR decreased water and leaf temperatures and total ammonium nitrogen (TAN) but increased dissolved oxygen and pH in aquaponic solution up to one and two weeks after transplant, respectively. HFR increased NO 3 -N concentration by 50 and 80%, respectively, compared to MFR and LFR, while reducing the exposure duration of roots to ammonia (NH 3 -N) and its peak concentration through rapid dissipation of the toxic compound. Lower electrical conductivity (EC) in HFR during the last two weeks of production was associated with higher plant nutrient uptake and greater biomass production. The leaf greenness, photosynthetic rate (Pn), and total plant N were significantly higher at HFR than LFR. Fish growth rate, fresh weight, and feed-conversion efficiency were also increased by HFR. The growth of fast-growing crops including total fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, leaf area, and Pn was not different between HFR and MFR, while HLR had less significant effects on the growth and performance (i.e., shoot fresh weight and whole plant photosynthesis) of slow-growing crops. In conclusion, the flow rate is an important component in aquaponic crop production as it affects spatial and temporal water characteristics and subsequently determines the growth and yield of the crops. HLR at 3.3 m 3 /m 2 /day was sufficient across the crops allowing better chemical and physical properties of the aquaponic solution for maximum yield and quality. HLR should be maintained at least at 2.2 m 3 /m 2 /day for the production of fast-growing crops but can be lowered for slow-growing crops.

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Section: Plants Require Different Flow Rate Based On Their Growth Ratementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Hydraulic Loading Rate on Spatial and Temporal Water Quality Characteristics and Crop Growth and Yield in Aquaponic Systems

Yang

Kim

2020

Horticulturae

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“…Reports show that nutrient supplementation leads to similar, or even higher, AP crop yield as cHP [24][25][26]. Other factors that influence AP crop yield include crop species [27,28], substrate/grow media type [14,28,29], HP system type, and a myriad of others, which affect nutrient availability and uptake by crops [2,[30][31][32][33]. A combination of factors from the aquaculture and HP components interact to affect crop yields in AP and how they compare with cHP systems.…”

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confidence: 99%

Comparisons between Aquaponic and Conventional Hydroponic Crop Yields: A Meta-Analysis

et al. 2019

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Aquaponic is a relatively new system of farming, which has received much research attention due to its potential for sustainability. However, there is no consensus on comparability between crop yields obtained from aquaponics (AP) and conventional hydroponics (cHP). Meta-analysis was used to synthesize the literature on studies that compared crop yields of AP and cHP. Factors responsible for differences were also examined through subgroup analysis. A literature search was conducted in five databases with no time restriction in order to capture any publication on AP and cHP crop yield comparisons. The search was, however, limited to journal and conference articles published in English. Study characteristics and outcome measures of food crops were extracted. A natural log response ratio effect size measure was used to transform study outcomes. An unweighted meta-analysis was conducted through bootstrapping to calculate overall effect size and its confidence interval. Between-study heterogeneity (I2) was estimated using a random effects model. Subgroup and meta-regression were used to assess moderators, in an attempt to explain heterogeneity in the effect size. The results showed that although crop yield in AP was lower than conventional cHP, the difference was not statistically significant. However, drawing conclusions on the overall effect size must be done with caution due to the use of unweighted meta-analysis. There were statistically significant effects of aquatic organism, hydroponic system type, and nutrient supplementation used in the studies on crop yield comparisons. Nutrient supplementation, particularly, led to on average higher crop yield in AP relative to cHP. These findings are a vital information source for choosing factors to include in an AP study. These findings also synthesize the current trends in AP crop yields in comparison with cHP.

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“…These should be mineralized (i.e. solubilized) by microorganisms that degrade organic matter and release ions at the appropriate pH for assimilation by plants prior to the delivery of wastewater to hydroponic systems (Delaide et al, 2017;Seawright et al, 1998). The challenge therefore with respect to digester design and operation is to maximize efficient mineralization and recovery of the nutrients trapped in sludge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient mineralization and organic matter reduction performance of RAS-based sludge in sequential UASB-EGSB reactors

Goddek

Delaide

Joyce

et al. 2018

Aquacultural Engineering

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A B S T R A C TThere is a recognized need for mineralizing aquaculture-derived sludge in aquaponics systems in order to reduce waste production. Many recent studies of aquacultural waste treatment have focused only the production of biogas as opposed to the potential for mineralization of nutrient-rich sludge. Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors provide one possible solution for breaking down sludge into bioavailable nutrients that can subsequently be delivered to plants. As such, this study examines the mineralization performance of sequential UASB reactors that are designed with an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) and compared to standard aerobic and anaerobic batch reactors. Results of our experiments demonstrate that only chemical oxygen demand reduction is significantly different. An unexpected drop in pH of one of the three reactor systems revealed that a pH below 6 was able to significantly increase the mineralization and mobilization of nutrients. Approximately 25% of phosphorus, potassium, and calcium could also be recovered from the sludge under lower pH conditions, as compared to the mineralization performance of standard UASB reactors running at a higher pH. However, the opposite effect was observed with respect to organic sludge reduction, where diminished performance was observed in the low-pH reactor. The current study implies that anaerobic reactors operating at low pH can potentially contribute towards improved nutrient recovery in multi-loop aquaponics systems and reduction of additive agents for pH control of the hydroponic subsystem.

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Plant and fish production performance, nutrient mass balances, energy and water use of the PAFF Box, a small-scale aquaponic system

Cited by 109 publications

References 16 publications

Effects of Hydraulic Loading Rate on Spatial and Temporal Water Quality Characteristics and Crop Growth and Yield in Aquaponic Systems

Effects of Hydraulic Loading Rate on Spatial and Temporal Water Quality Characteristics and Crop Growth and Yield in Aquaponic Systems

Comparisons between Aquaponic and Conventional Hydroponic Crop Yields: A Meta-Analysis

Nutrient mineralization and organic matter reduction performance of RAS-based sludge in sequential UASB-EGSB reactors

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