Engineering Heritage Journal (Aug 2023)
EFFECT OF TOMATO PLANT DENSITY ON AQUAPONIC SYSTEM PRODUCTION
Abstract
The need to increase food production and match the food security demands under climate change impacts generate the force for developing aquaponic system. An aquaponic system was established at the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate (CLAC), Egypt, to investigate the effect of tomato plant density (2, 4 and 6 plants / m2) on tomato and fish production as well as the quality of rare water. Nutrient film technique (3 m length) used to produce tomato integrated with aquaculture of tilapia fish. Vegetative growth characteristics and yield parameters of Tomato as well as tilapia yield parameters plus the nutrient contents of rare water were recorded. The revealed results indicated that increasing the tomato plant density from 2 up to 6 plants / m2 led to a decrease in the No. of leaves, total leaves area and plant height of tomato. The early and total yield of tomato per plant significantly increased by decreasing the plant density from 6 to 4 and 2 plants /m2. On the contrary, the highest total yield per m2 was given by tomato density 6 plants. Tilapia average weight of (g), tilapia total yield (Kg/m3), average daily gain (ADG) and specific growth rate % (SGR) results increased significantly by increasing the plant density of tomato from 2 and 4 up to 6 plants / m2. Increasing the tomato plant density led to decrease significantly NO3, P, K, Ca and Mg (ppm) values of fish rare water content during the season period due to increasing the removal of nutrients for tomato sake. The accumulation of nutrients in rare fish water increased by increasing the growth of fish tilapia. The highest results of NO3, P, K, Ca and Mg were recorded by tomato plant density 2 plants /m2 while 6 plants /m2 had the lowest nutrient contents. For sustainable food production, the study recommended the plant density of tomato 6 plants /m2. 18 tomato plants in 3 m NFT system length (6 plants/m2) integrated with 150 tilapia fish in 1 m3.
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