Environmental sustainability and nutrient balance in the integrated farming of species with complementary functional characteristics in freshwater ponds

• Grant number: 23/13777-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: January 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Fishery Resources and Fishery Engineering - Aquaculture
• Principal Investigator: Wagner Cotroni Valenti
• Grantee: Wagner Cotroni Valenti
• Host Institution: Centro de Aquicultura (CAUNESP). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Dallas Lee Flickinger ; Fernanda de Freitas Borges ; Helenice Pereira de Barros ; Marcello Villar Boock ; Patrícia Maria Contente Moraes Valenti
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/04899-2 - Environmental sustainability and nutrient balance in the integrated cultivation of species with complementary functional characteristics in freshwater ponds, BP.TT

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate environmental sustainability, the flow of greenhouse gases and the distribution of nutrients in the different compartments of three aquaculture systems in freshwater ponds. Species of commercial interest will be used as a model. They are cultivated in Brazil and intended for different markets. This study is part of a broad project that aims to develop an innovative and disruptive system for producing Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, under the circular economy principles and following the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim is to develop a system that allows tilapia culture and aquaculture to grow more resilient and with a net gain in profitability and sustainability relative to current systems. The production and bioeconomic studies were funded with resources obtained from the CALL CNPq/MCTI/FNDCT Nº 18/2021 - UNIVERSAL. Thus, in 2022-2023, an experiment was carried out in 150 m2 ponds at the UNESP Aquaculture Center, Jaboticabal, in a completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 3 replications. The treatments were: 1) monoculture of tilapia (3 ind.m-2), 2) integrated cultivation of tilapia (3 ind.m-2) and curimbatá (5 ind.m-2), 3) integrated cultivation of tilapia ( 3 ind.m-2) and shrimp (5 ind.m-2); 4) integrated cultivation of tilapia (3 ind.m-2), curimbatá (5 ind.m-2) and shrimp (5 ind.m-2). The tilapia was fed with a commercial diet, according to its biomass (only from tilapia) estimated inside the ponds. During this experiment, samples of water and gases (CO2, CH4, N2O and N2) were collected from the input and output water, sediment, diet, stocked and harvested animals. These samples will be used to measure the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon and energy in each ecological compartment of the ponds and incorporated into each species. The samples are stored in a freezer and will be analyzed in the laboratory. The results will be used to determine environmental sustainability, greenhouse gas flows, and nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon balances. These analyzes are expensive because they use sophisticated equipment and techniques, and their cost is not covered in the amount financed by CNPq. We request resources from FAPESP for this project to carry out these analyses. (AU)