Overuse of farmlands for crop production and rising cost of chemical Overuse of farmlands for crop production and rising cost of chemical fertilizers have grossly affected crop yield, production and food availability, and the search for alternative use of locally available aquaculture-waste for fertilizer and soil improvement can improve crop yield and food availability for the teaming population of Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries. This research determined the pH, Organic Matter, nitrate and phosphate qualities of 10 fishpond sediments for use as agricultural fertilizer supplement and soil conditioner in Owerri, Nigeria. Samples were subjected to standard physicochemical analysis. The pH ranged from 8.1-7.3, organic matter from 46.6-61.3 g/kg, nitrate from 2.6-3.2 g/kg and phosphate from 0.05-0.1 g/kg. The higher the organic matter in the sediment samples, the higher the recorded pH, nitrate and phosphate from the different ponds sediments. Organic material, nitrate, phosphate and pH variation in the sediments might be due to nutrients added to pond water from fertilizer, unconsumed feed, fish feaces and metabolites. The nitrate and phosphate are major plant nutrients; organic matter can be used as soil conditioner. The pH can determine the soil chemistry and availability of the nutrients. The fish pond sediment can help to improve soil texture and soil fertility, which may influence soil aeration, water, and nutrient-holding capacity and root penetration by crops and increased crops growth and yield. It can serve as alternative uses for fertilizer, soil conditioner, and its application as a waste management approach in aquaculture for environmental sustainability.
Article Citation:
Ihejirika CE, Onwudike SU, Nwaogu LA, Emereibeole EI, Ebe TE and Ejiogu CC.
Assessment of aquaculture sediment for agricultural fertilizer supplement and soil conditioner in Owerri Urban, Nigeria.
Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1(1): 034-038.
Full Text:
http://jagri.info/documents/AG0009.pdf
Original Title
Assessment of Aquaculture Sediment for Agricultural Fertilizer Supplement and Soil Conditioner in Owerri Urban, Nigeria
Overuse of farmlands for crop production and rising cost of chemical Overuse of farmlands for crop production and rising cost of chemical fertilizers have grossly affected crop yield, production and food availability, and the search for alternative use of locally available aquaculture-waste for fertilizer and soil improvement can improve crop yield and food availability for the teaming population of Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries. This research determined the pH, Organic Matter, nitrate and phosphate qualities of 10 fishpond sediments for use as agricultural fertilizer supplement and soil conditioner in Owerri, Nigeria. Samples were subjected to standard physicochemical analysis. The pH ranged from 8.1-7.3, organic matter from 46.6-61.3 g/kg, nitrate from 2.6-3.2 g/kg and phosphate from 0.05-0.1 g/kg. The higher the organic matter in the sediment samples, the higher the recorded pH, nitrate and phosphate from the different ponds sediments. Organic material, nitrate, phosphate and pH variation in the sediments might be due to nutrients added to pond water from fertilizer, unconsumed feed, fish feaces and metabolites. The nitrate and phosphate are major plant nutrients; organic matter can be used as soil conditioner. The pH can determine the soil chemistry and availability of the nutrients. The fish pond sediment can help to improve soil texture and soil fertility, which may influence soil aeration, water, and nutrient-holding capacity and root penetration by crops and increased crops growth and yield. It can serve as alternative uses for fertilizer, soil conditioner, and its application as a waste management approach in aquaculture for environmental sustainability.
Article Citation:
Ihejirika CE, Onwudike SU, Nwaogu LA, Emereibeole EI, Ebe TE and Ejiogu CC.
Assessment of aquaculture sediment for agricultural fertilizer supplement and soil conditioner in Owerri Urban, Nigeria.
Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1(1): 034-038.
Full Text:
http://jagri.info/documents/AG0009.pdf
Overuse of farmlands for crop production and rising cost of chemical Overuse of farmlands for crop production and rising cost of chemical fertilizers have grossly affected crop yield, production and food availability, and the search for alternative use of locally available aquaculture-waste for fertilizer and soil improvement can improve crop yield and food availability for the teaming population of Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries. This research determined the pH, Organic Matter, nitrate and phosphate qualities of 10 fishpond sediments for use as agricultural fertilizer supplement and soil conditioner in Owerri, Nigeria. Samples were subjected to standard physicochemical analysis. The pH ranged from 8.1-7.3, organic matter from 46.6-61.3 g/kg, nitrate from 2.6-3.2 g/kg and phosphate from 0.05-0.1 g/kg. The higher the organic matter in the sediment samples, the higher the recorded pH, nitrate and phosphate from the different ponds sediments. Organic material, nitrate, phosphate and pH variation in the sediments might be due to nutrients added to pond water from fertilizer, unconsumed feed, fish feaces and metabolites. The nitrate and phosphate are major plant nutrients; organic matter can be used as soil conditioner. The pH can determine the soil chemistry and availability of the nutrients. The fish pond sediment can help to improve soil texture and soil fertility, which may influence soil aeration, water, and nutrient-holding capacity and root penetration by crops and increased crops growth and yield. It can serve as alternative uses for fertilizer, soil conditioner, and its application as a waste management approach in aquaculture for environmental sustainability.
Article Citation:
Ihejirika CE, Onwudike SU, Nwaogu LA, Emereibeole EI, Ebe TE and Ejiogu CC.
Assessment of aquaculture sediment for agricultural fertilizer supplement and soil conditioner in Owerri Urban, Nigeria.
Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1(1): 034-038.
Full Text:
http://jagri.info/documents/AG0009.pdf
Assessment of aquaculture sediment for agricultural fertilizer supplement
and soil conditioner in Owerri Urban, Nigeria
Keywords: Fishpond sediment, fertilizer supplement, soil conditioner, soil fertility, crop yield. List of abbreviations: MDGs = Millennium Development Goals; OM = Organic Matter; A = Initial Sample Weight ; B = Reweighed Sample Weight. ABSTRACT: Overuse of farmlands for crop production and rising cost of chemical Overuse of farmlands for crop production and rising cost of chemical fertilizers have grossly affected crop yield, production and food availability, and the search for alternative use of locally available aquaculture-waste for fertilizer and soil improvement can improve crop yield and food availability for the teaming population of Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries. This research determined the pH, Organic Matter, nitrate and phosphate qualities of 10 fishpond sediments for use as agricultural fertilizer supplement and soil conditioner in Owerri, Nigeria. Samples were subjected to standard physicochemical analysis. The pH ranged from 8.1-7.3, organic matter from 46.6-61.3 g/kg, nitrate from 2.6-3.2 g/kg and phosphate from 0.05-0.1 g/kg. The higher the organic matter in the sediment samples, the higher the recorded pH, nitrate and phosphate from the different ponds sediments. Organic material, nitrate, phosphate and pH variation in the sediments might be due to nutrients added to pond water from fertilizer, unconsumed feed, fish feaces and metabolites. The nitrate and phosphate are major plant nutrients; organic matter can be used as soil conditioner. The pH can determine the soil chemistry and availability of the nutrients. The fish pond sediment can help to improve soil texture and soil fertility, which may influence soil aeration, water, and nutrient-holding capacity and root penetration by crops and increased crops growth and yield. It can serve as alternative uses for fertilizer, soil conditioner, and its application as a waste management approach in aquaculture for environmental sustainability. 034 -038 | JRA | 2012 | Vol 1 | No 1
This article is governed by the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/2.0), which gives permission for unrestricted use, non-commercial, distribution and reproduction in all medium, provided the original work is properly cited. www.jagri.info Journal of Research in Agriculture An International Scientific Research Journal Authors: Ihejirika CE 1 , Onwudike SU 2 , Nwaogu LA 3 , Emereibeole EI 1 , Ebe TE 1
and Ejiogu CC 1 .
Institution: 1. Department of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.
2. Department of Soil Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.
3. Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.
Corresponding author: Ihejirika CE.
Email: ceihejirika@yahoo.com.
Web Address: http://www.jagri.info documents/AG0009.pdf.
Dates: Received: 21 Nov 2011 Accepted: 23 Nov 2011 Published: 01 Feb 2012 Article Citation: Ihejirika CE, Onwudike SU, Nwaogu LA, Emereibeole EI, Ebe TE and Ejiogu CC. Assessment of aquaculture sediment for agricultural fertilizer supplement and soil conditioner in Owerri Urban, Nigeria. Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1: 034-038 Original Research Journal of Research in Agriculture J o u r n a l
o f
R e s e a r c h
i n
A g r i c u l t u r e
An International Scientific Research Journal
INTRODUCTION Inappropriate land management has resulted in the deterioration of soil quality in many agricultural areas of the world (Mullins et al., 1990), sub-Saharan Africa not left out. This has further resulted in deterioration of soil health in terms of both physical and chemical conditions. Benjamin et al. (2003) reported that soil physical condition could substantially influence crop production. Agriculture has been widely developed in recent years for food security and income generation (Lin and Yi, 2003). Successful management of tropical fish ponds for biological optimal fish growth requires supply of necessary pond inputs including nutrients in a balanced manner through fertilizer application and supplementary feed addition (Li and Yakupitiyage, 2003). A large amount of green manure and animal manures are also applied to fish ponds, thus leading to organic matter (OM) accumulating in pond bottoms over the years. Formulated complete feed is applied in intensive fish culture systems, which eventually generates a large amount of organic wastes (Mizanur et al., 2004). Thus regular feeding and fertilization in fish ponds result to accumulation of organic matter (OM), nitrogen and phosphorus in sediments. With nutrient budgeting, Olah et al. (1994) reported that 30-95% of the nitrogen applied to fish ponds accumulated in the sediment. Similarly, Boyd (1995) showed that a higher fraction of phosphate compounds applied to ponds also ended up in the sediments. Poor soil physical conditions can restrict water intake into the soil, its retention and subsequent movement from soil aeration and associated biological activities. There are many organic and inorganic amendments that are claimed to improve soil physical conditions, but pond sediment has not received much attention as a conditioner. The pond sediment contains higher amounts of organic matter (OM), that is, 4.98- 6.20% in semi-intensive tilapia pond stocks at 1.1 fish m -2 (Avnimelech et al., 1999) while 10.34% in channel catfish ponds in the United States (Boyd, 1995). The high content of organic matter (OM) can play a major role in soil aggregate formation (Nemati et al., 2000), thus improving soil physical and chemical conditions, thus facilitating crop production. This demands the development of appropriate management strategies of pond sediment disposal for agricultural fertilizer. Use of fish pond sediments as fertilizer supplements and soil conditioners would be the best management option. And due to the declining soil fertility and over cultivation of farm lands in Imo State, Nigeria, the high demand for and cost of chemical fertilizers has increased and the need to manage waste generation from aquaculture farms, is inevitable and this research was therefore targeted at determining the Organic Matter (OM), nitrate and phosphate content of fish pond sediment as a possible resource for fertilizer supplementation and soil conditioner to help improving crop production and provide food for all as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2020.
MATERIALS AND METHODS Study area: Owerri urban comprises of three Local Government Areas that serve as the capital of Imo State, Nigeria. Due to the ban on importation of frozen fish and livestock, and the high cost of beef, individuals, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies have been encouraged in the establishment of viable aquaculture practices to help maintaining the protein demand of the citizenry. Sample collection: Sediment samples were collected from the bottom of the fish ponds with the aid of clean plastic containers from 10 fish ponds (ponds I, iii, iv, vii and ix were from fingerlings while ponds ii, v, vi, viii, and x were from catfish) in Owerri urban immediately after removal of pond water prior to fish harvesting. The samples were immediately transported to laboratory for the determination of Organic Matter. Determination of Organic Matter: The modified method of Schollenberger (1945) was adopted for this analysis. Samples were prepared for analysis by drying in an oven for a minimum of 72 hours at 50C. A representative portion of the dry sediment of each pond was transferred into a pre-weighed crucible and sample weight (A) kilogram (kg) was determined using an analytical balance. Samples were transferred into a Thermolyne 1400 muffle furnace and burned at 550C for 2 hours to remove organic matter. After cooling in a desiccator, samples were reweighed (B) in kilograms. The organic matter weight was determined as follows: OM = A B kg Determination of Nitrates and Phosphates (mg/g/ l of sediment): The phosphate and nitrate content of the 035 Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1: 034-038 Ihejirika et al.,2012 sediment samples were determined as described in the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater (APHA/AWWA/WPCF, 1985).
RESULT AND DISCUSSION Result: The values of the determination of the pH, organic matter, nitrate and phosphate of the sediment samples were as shown in Table 1. That all the sediment samples of the fish ponds had organic matter, nitrate and phosphate as components, it was better elucidated in Figure 1. The pH ranged from 8.1-7.3, organic matter from 46.6-61.3 g/kg, nitrate from 2.6-3.2 g/kg and phosphate from 0.05-0.1 g/kg. Sediments from catfish ponds ii, v, vi, viii, and x were higher in organic matter when compared with fingerlings ponds i, iii, iv, vii and ix with lower organic matter content. The same trend was recorded for nitrate and phosphate from the different ponds sediments.
DISCUSSION: Organic material in the sediments might have been as a result of nutrients added to pond water from fertilizer, unconsumed feed, fish feaces and metabolites (Mizanur et al., 2004). According to Boyd (1995), major sources of nitrate and phosphate in fish ponds are fertilizers and feed. Addition of manure and feed provides organic nitrate and phosphate, while inorganic form comes from chemical fertilizers. The portion of the feed in the sediment might be from the remains, after the fishes had consumed the feed. In support of this argument, Tucker (1998) reported that only less than 30% of the feed or fertilizer nitrate and phosphate added to ponds is recovered in the harvest of fish, and the remainder is lost to the pond effluent and sediment. The pH, organic matter , nitrate, and phosphate ranges recorded were in accordance with the reports of previous studies (Avnimelech et al., 1999; Rahman et al., 2002; Wahab et al., 1984). The pond sediments were rich in nitrate and phosphate which are major plant nutrients. Application of pond sediment, where applicable, may increase nutrient levels in soils. According to Mizanur et al. (2004), the inorganic forms of nutrients in pond sediments may be immediately available to plants while the organic forms of nutrients in sediments take time to make available them to plants through microbial breakdown. Increased pH of sediments rich in nutrients may tend to cause the release of increased portion of the nutrients to water in soils. This was supported by Boyd (1995) in a report that sediments rich in phosphate tend to release a higher fraction of phosphate to water, and this increases with increasing pH of pond sediments. According to Boyd (1995), during microbial decomposition of pond sediments in soil, organic acids are released, which may help to dissolve soil mineral phosphate. The high pH value of the sediments might help to raise the pH of pond soils and other acidic soils. Organic matter (OM) in the pond sediments if utilized as a soil conditioner can help improving soil infiltration, water content and soil texture. It is of utmost importance to the water management ability of plants, recharge of aquifers, regulation of surface runoff and soil erosion. Soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics and processes can be affected directly or indirectly by soil water. Organic matter in fish pond sediments Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1: 034-038 036 Ihejirika et al.,2012 pH Organic Matter (g/Kg) Nitrate (g/Kg) Phosphate (g/Kg) Pond i 7.3 48.2 2.7 0.06 Pond ii 8.1 58.1 3.2 0.09 Pond iii 7.3 48.4 2.7 0.05 Pond iv 7.4 49.2 2.7 0.06 Pond v 7.6 51.3 2.8 0.07 Pond vi 8.0 57.5 3.1 0.10 Pond vii 7.5 50.1 2.8 0.08 Pond viii 7.8 52.7 2.98 0.08 Pond ix 7.2 46.6 2.6 0.05 Pond x 8.2 61.3 3.1 0.10 Table 1: Physicochemical parameters of fish pond sediments Figure 1: The OM, P, and N composition of individual pond sediments Fish ponds = 1-10, OM = Organic Matter, N = Nitrate and P = Phosphate
can be affected directly or indirectly by soil water. Organic matter in fish pond sediments can help the soil hold water and decrease soil surface crusting, which may enable soil water infiltration (Olness et al., 1998). According to Rahman et al. (2002), in the presence of water, sediment appeared to be resembled to clay fraction, which in turn increases the field capacity. Fish pond sediment organic matter can improve soil texture which may influence soil aeration, water and nutrient-holding capacity and root penetration by plants (Ben-Hur, 2001). This was supported by the works of Martens and Frankenberger (1992) which reported that application of pond sediment enriched with organic matter can improve heavy soils by forming soil aggregation and aeration porosity that eventually increases soil infiltration and other beneficial characteristics, while reducing surface runoff and its associated nutrient losses. Further support by the report of El-Sheifei et al. (1994) stated that in sandy soils, where agricultural productivity is limited due to water holding capacity, high infiltration rates, deep percolation and low cation exchange capacity; soil conditioners are effective in adjusting such characteristics. In such circumstance, addition of fishpond sediment will be effective in reducing the infiltration rate by improving the soil structure, micropores, and decreasing macropores, which eventually increase water holding capacity.
CONCLUSION This research has characterized fish pond sediments that were probably disposed as waste in Owerri, Nigeria as suitable alternative for use in enhancing soil characteristics for food production. It also serves as an approach waste to wealth and fight against poverty if properly applied to suitable soils.
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