Facilities pond aquaculture system construction and the ecological economy analyzed

Abstract

Pond aquaculture is the main form of aquaculture worldwide. However, there are problems with water quality being difficult to control, discharge pollution, low production quality, etc. Therefore, an efficient, low-carbon, and controllable pond system should be established. In this paper, we introduce two facilities’ pond systems: a segregated pond aquaculture system (SPA) and a batch pond aquaculture system (BPA). In these two systems, we evaluated a rearing period with bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) and detected ecological and economic indexes such as yield, nitrogen and phosphorus conversion efficiency, and energy utilization efficiency in different aquaculture pond systems. The results showed that the yields of the SPA and BPA were 12.81 % and 74.29 %, respectively, greater than those of traditional ponds. The feed conversion ratios (FCRs) of the BPA and SPA were 1.8 and 2.1, respectively, but those of the traditional ponds were 2.3. The proportions of nitrogen converted to fish in the SPA, BPA, and traditional ponds were 29.67 %, 33.45 %, and 26.19 %, respectively, and the percentages of phosphorus converted to fish in the SPA, BPA and traditional ponds were 53.68 %, 63.38 %, and 52.20 %, respectively. With the production of 1 kg of aquatic products, the utilization of solar and feed energy in the SPA, BPA, and traditional ponds was 60.28 ± 1.12 MJ/kg, 66.59 ±0.26 MJ/kg, and 37.05 ±1.33 MJ/kg, respectively. In addition, the SPA and BPA can also use 60 % less water, reduce wastewater discharge by 80 % and use 35 % less land. These results showed that construction facility pond systems could improve pond aquaculture efficiency and have great development potential.