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AgriEngineering
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Aquaponics: Advancing Food Production Systems for the World
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Aquaponics: Advancing Food Production Systems for the World

A special issue of AgriEngineering (ISSN 2624-7402).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 10830

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Benz Kotzen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Design, University of Greenwich, Park Row, London SE10 9LS, UK
Interests: sustainable landscape design; environmental noise; arid and desert landscapes; water and landscape restoration; aquaponics and urban agriculture; biophilia and techno nature-based solutions; ecological restoration; landscape and urban planning and design
Prof. Dr. Harry W. Palm

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Aquaculture and Sea-Ranching, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, 18059 Rostock, Germany
Interests: aquaponics; polyponics; integrated aquaculture systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ulrich Knaus

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Aquaculture and Sea-Ranching, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, 18059 Rostock, Germany
Interests: aquaponics; aquaculture; fish biology; nutrition; nutritional biochemistry; polyponics; circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The publication of “Aquaponics Food Production Systems (AFPS) 2019”, which emanated from the EU Aquaponics Hub, with authors from around the globe, provided a then up-to-date picture of aquaponics science and technology. However, as a relatively new and energized sector of food production, much research is being done and is entering into the research pipeline. Many higher education institutions now also have aquaponics facilities and laboratories, and courses and modules are being developed for undergraduate as well as post-graduate students, as is evidenced by the EU-funded Erasmus+ Aqu@teach project (https://aquateach.wordpress.com).

This Special Issue titled “Aquaponics: Advancing Food Production Systems for the World” is a timely addition to our aquaponics knowledge, coming 18 months after the publication of AFPS and especially as we experience the COVID-19 pandemic and come to grips with its secondary effects, which highlight the need for healthy, local, fresh produce, farmed on our doorsteps in an efficiently and environmentally friendly manner. This Special Issue is open to all researchers in aquaponics around the world who work on and write about all aspects of aquaponics science, technology, management and monitoring, design, production, socio-economics, planning, public perception, etc. This Special Issue provides an opportune moment and forum to bring new knowledge to the aquaponics community to aid all of us working in research and in the industry.

Prof. Benz Kotzen
Prof. Harry W. Palm
Dr. Ulrich Knaus
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. AgriEngineering is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Aquaponics science
  • Aquaponics technology
  • Aquaponics management
  • Aquaponics design

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2444 KiB  
Article
Growth of Basil (Ocimum basilicum) in Aeroponics, DRF, and Raft Systems with Effluents of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) in Decoupled Aquaponics (s.s.)
by Johannes Pasch, Samuel Appelbaum, Harry Wilhelm Palm and Ulrich Knaus
AgriEngineering 2021, 3(3), 559-574; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriengineering3030036 - 15 Jul 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4709
Abstract
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) was cultivated in three hydroponic subsystems (i) a modified commercial aeroponics, (ii) a dynamic root floating (DRF) system, and (iii) a floating raft system in a decoupled aquaponic system in Northern Germany, Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania. For plant nutrition, aquaculture [...] Read more.
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) was cultivated in three hydroponic subsystems (i) a modified commercial aeroponics, (ii) a dynamic root floating (DRF) system, and (iii) a floating raft system in a decoupled aquaponic system in Northern Germany, Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania. For plant nutrition, aquaculture process water from intensive rearing of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) was used without fertilizer. After 39 days, 16 plant growth parameters were compared, with aeroponics performing significantly better in 11 parameters compared with the DRF, and better compared with the raft in 13 parameters. The economically important leaf wet and dry weight was over 40% higher in aeroponics (28.53 ± 8.74 g; 4.26 ± 1.23 g), but similar in the DRF (20.19 ± 6.57 g; 2.83 ± 0.90 g) and raft (20.35 ± 7.14 g; 2.84 ± 1.04 g). The roots in the DRF grew shorter and thicker; however, this resulted in a higher root dry weight in aeroponics (1.08 ± 0.38 g) compared with the DRF (0.82 ± 0.36 g) and raft (0.67 ± 0.27 g). With optimal fertilizer and system improvement, aquaponic aeroponics (s.s.) could become a productive and sustainable large-scale food production system in the future. Due to its simple construction, the raft is ideal for domestic or semi-commercial use and can be used in areas where water is neither scarce nor expensive. The DRF system is particularly suitable for basil cultivation under hot tropical conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquaponics: Advancing Food Production Systems for the World)
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18 pages, 1649 KiB  
Article
Growth of Basil (Ocimum basilicum) in DRF, Raft, and Grow Pipes with Effluents of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) in Decoupled Aquaponics
by Johannes Pasch, Benny Ratajczak, Samuel Appelbaum, Harry W. Palm and Ulrich Knaus
AgriEngineering 2021, 3(1), 92-109; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriengineering3010006 - 26 Feb 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5135
Abstract
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) was cultivated in Rostock, Northern Germany, in a decoupled aquaponic system with African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) under intensive rearing conditions by using three hydroponic components, the dynamic root floating technique (DRF), the raft technique, and grow [...] Read more.
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) was cultivated in Rostock, Northern Germany, in a decoupled aquaponic system with African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) under intensive rearing conditions by using three hydroponic components, the dynamic root floating technique (DRF), the raft technique, and grow pipes. A 25% of the recommended feed input still allowed African catfish growth and provided adequate nitrogen and calcium levels in the process water. After 36 days, the plants were examined with respect to 16 different growth parameters. DRF performed significantly better than raft and/or grow pipes in 11 parameters. Total weight of basil was significantly higher in DRF (107.70 ± 34.03 g) compared with raft (82.02 ± 22.74 g) and grow pipes (77.86 ± 23.93 g). The economically important leaf biomass was significantly higher in wet and dry weight under DRF cultivation (45.36 ± 13.53 g; 4.96 ± 1.57 g) compared with raft (34.94 ± 9.44 g; 3.74 ± 1.04 g) and grow pipes (32.74 ± 9.84 g; 3.75 ± 1.22 g). Two main factors limited plant growth: an unbalanced nutrient concentration ratio and high water temperatures with an average of 28 °C (max 34.4 °C), which resulted in reduced root activity in raft and grow pipes. DRF was able to maintain root activity through the 5 cm air space between the shoots and the nutrient solution and thus produced significantly more biomass. This suggests DRF to be used for basil aquaponics under glass house conditions with high-temperature scenarios. Future studies are needed to optimize nutrient loads and examine systems with the plant roots exposed to air (Aeroponics). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquaponics: Advancing Food Production Systems for the World)
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