Roots of Aquaponics INTRODUCTIONAquaponics isa combination of aquaculture and hydroculture which includes elements ofrecurculation and symbiosis(1),its givesoutput of vegetables and fishes utilizing water which is nutrient rich and fishfood and excreata as a basic source,again it is a soilless culture. Historysays that one of the ancient practice is using fish waste as fertilizer forcrops.”stationary islands” set up in shallow lakes in centralAmerica(e.
g.,Aztec’s Chinampas 1150-1350BC)2. In South East Asia about 1500 years ago used to introduction offish into paddy fields3 ,researchers at the NewAlchemy Institute North Carolina State University (USA) in 70’s and early 80’sdeveloped the basics of modern Aquaponics4.
Good mile stone was set up in year1980 at the University of the VirginIsland(UVI) 1.A survey, conducted by Love etal. 4, shows thataquaponics has been receiving growing interest since then 5, which point outits increasing food security for society. Food security would be particularlybelongs to global population it now exceeds 7.
2billions and is growing rapidly 9.6billions around 2050.6Urban population growth will require an increasingdemand for animal protein7.Aquaculture isclosed system of fish farming, where commercial fishes (catfish,ornamentalfish,cray fish or prawns etc.)are grown under controled conditions in container. It includes a new aproach called recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), reuse of water with< 10% of total water volume replaced per day8. Hydroponics is a term used todetermine the production of plants in soilless media.
Plant roots plays majorrole in a nutrient artificial medium for mechanical support 9.It supports theproduction of green leaf vegetables Chinese cabbage,lettue,basil,spanich,chilles.In other hand aquaponics system withmature and high stock density of fish,plants such as tomato, peppers andcucumbers.it includes salads capsicum,red salads onions,snowpeas,okra,tomato,bellpepper.
