NUTRIENT DYNAMICS WITHIN THE INAPRODOUBLE RECIRCULATING AQUAPONIC SYSTEM (DRAPS)
Werner Kloas
Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology
& Inland Fisheries (IGB),
Department Ecophysiology & Aquaculture, Berlin, Germany
2PageInternational Innovation Workshop Aquaculture, Berlin, 03-14-2017
CHALLENGES AND VISION
The EU project INAPRO implements innovative water, energy, and nutrient management solutions to exploit resources efficiencies for aquaponics
INAPRO aquaponics allows a nearly emission-free sustainable food production keeping similar yields for fish and plants as in separated systems
INAPRO meets well with the recent EU strategies under the new Horizon 2020 framework to face the challenges of the dramatic development of the water resource situation in Europe and worldwide
Aims: - saving the use of water- reduce emissions (CO2, N, P) by value added chains- contribute to food security by productive sustainability
3PageInternational Innovation Workshop Aquaculture, Berlin, 03-14-2017
DIFFERENT RECIRCULATION SYSTEMS
single recirculation
aquaponic system (SRAPS)
double recirculation
aquaponic system (DRAPS)
conventional innovativeallows to establish
optimum conditions for
both, fish and plants!
aquaponics = aquaculture + hydroponics
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INAPRO AQUAPONICS
Mechanical filter (2) Fish tanks (1)
Nutrient solution tank (8)
Plant gutter (9)
Condensed water (10)
Fresh water
CO2
Fertiliser (7)
3-chamber-pit (6)
Sludge
Feed
Pump sump (5) Biofilter (4)
3
3
DRAPS
Aquaculture (RAS) Hydroponics (B)
3
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INAPRO SYSTEM DESIGN2 demonstration plants- Waren, Germany- Murcia, Spain
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TEST & RESEARCH FACILITY (Abtshagen)
Basic data Total area: 196 m²
RAS:
43 m²
8 m3 rearing volume
Greenhouse: 139 m²
88.4 m² net cultivation area
8 plant gutters
192 tomato plants
nutrient film technology (NFT)
Technical room: 14 m²
7PageInternational Innovation Workshop Aquaculture, Berlin, 03-14-2017
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Experimental design Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)
tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L., cv. Pureza)
Treatments for the hydroponic unit (1) well water (control), EC 1.8
(2) fish water, EC 1.8
(3) fish water, EC 3.0
in all treatments fertilizer was added to reach optimum conditions for plants
Working hypothesis: aquaponic fishwater can becomesupplemented in DRAPS to get the same tomato yield as by optimum artificial fertilizerin separate hydroponics!
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MATERIAL AND METHODS
Data collection
water quality – nutrients (weekly)
water use by plants
plant monitoring
photosynthesis
transpiration
plant growth
leaf area
generative development
fruit quantity (weekly)
fruit quality
9PageInternational Innovation Workshop Aquaculture, Berlin, 03-14-2017
NUTRIENT CONCENTRATION IN FISH WATER
mean nutrient concentrations in the fish water were correlated to fish densities, however, due to several reconfigurations of the experimental unit the fish densities varied a lot (mean 20 kg m-3) and did by far not reach normal aquaculture situation
Lattauschke, G. (2004) Gewächshaustomaten - Hinweis zum umweltgerechten Anbau und
Managementunterlagen. Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Landwirtschaft
0
50
100
150
200
250
P K Ca Mg S Na
Nu
trie
nt
co
nc
en
tra
tio
n(m
g L
-1)
Element
Recommendations by Lattauschke Tap water
Fish water (Feb to April) Fish water (May to Jul)
Fish water (Aug to Oct)N-NO3 varied markedly only from 15 to 45 mg/L, in contrast our system at IGB is having concentrationsbetween 86-168 mg/L (Kloas et al. 2015) being able tosupplement fully the tomato plants (150 mg/L).
10PageInternational Innovation Workshop Aquaculture, Berlin, 03-14-2017
TOTAL TOMATO YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITIES
despite varying nutrient concentrations INAPRO aquaponics achieved similar tomato yields as in separated hydroponics by supplementation of the fish water!
100%
100%
100%
92
.9%
93
.1%
68
.6%
10
4.6
%
10
4.2
%
13
7.1
%
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Total yield Marketable yield Non-marketable yield
Me
an
yie
ld(k
g m
-2)
Qualities
hydroponics, EC 1.8 aquaponics, EC 1.8 aquaponics, EC 3.0
ab
a
abb
a
b
b a c
YES - aquaponic fishwater can become supplemented in DRAPS to get the same tomato yield as by optimumartificial fertilizer in separate hydroponics!
11PageInternational Innovation Workshop Aquaculture, Berlin, 03-14-2017
FRUIT QUALITY
highest dry matter content in aquaponics, EC 3.0 (high salt concentration) soluble solids and sugar-acid ratio a bit lower in aquaponics, EC 1.8 Lycopene and ß-carotene contents were similar
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Dry matter Soluble solids Sugar-acid ratio Lycopene ß-carotene
Dry
ma
tte
r (%
)S
SC
(g
10
0g
-1 F
W)
SA
RL
yc
op
en
ea
nd
ß-c
aro
ten
e(m
g
g-1
DM
)
hydroponics, EC 1.8 aquaponics, EC 1.8 aquaponics, EC 3.0
b a
b
c
a
b
a a a
a a a
a ab
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FERTILISER USE EFFICIENCY (FUE)
Hydroponics, EC 1.8 Aquaponics, EC 1.8
Total yield per treatment (kg)
677.3 626.5
Mineral fertiliser
addition (kg)15.5 (100%) 11.6 (74.8%)
FUE (kg kg-1)* 43.7 54.0
FUE was increased by 23.6% in aquaponics compared to the control
reduction of total fertilizer input was 25.2% in aquaponics (with complete fish stocking 75% can be expected)
Preceeding experiment (Kloas et al., 2015) at IGB: reduction of fertilizer by 60%!
* FUE was calculated as ratio between the total yield of tomatoes and the total fertilizer use
Johanna Suhl, Dennis Dannehl, Werner Kloas, Daniela Baganz, and Uwe Schmidt (2016) Advanced aquaponics: Evaluation of intensive tomato production in aquaponics vs. conventional
hydroponics . Water Management 178:335–344.
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Hydroponics:
RAS:
DRAPS (aquaponics) :
300 g
500 g
10 g
100 g
50 gField:
2.5 g 2.0 g 0.6 g
ProductiveSustainability!
What can we harvest with 10 L water?
14PageInternational Innovation Workshop Aquaculture, Berlin, 03-14-2017
…no need to be restricted to tomatoes!
In principle all plants useful for hydroponics can be used for aquaponics.
• saving water (~90%)
• minimizing emissions (N, P, CO2)
• saving fertilizer (~75%)
• productive sustainability for aquaculture and hydroponics!!!!
…furthermore also all fish species, useful for RAS, can be combined in
DRAPS-aquaponics!
Transfer to application:
PERSPECTIVES
15PageInternational Innovation Workshop Aquaculture, Berlin, 03-14-2017
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
This project has received funding from the European Union´s Seventh Framework
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant
agreement no 619137