Experimental study to evaluate the efficacy of locally available waste carbon sources on aquaculture water quality management using biofloc technology

Locally available carbonaceous waste products viz. wheat flour, rice flour and tapioca flour recovered from flour industries were explored as carbon source for biofloc production and water quality management in light limited indoor aquariums without any culture species. The main objective of the study was to find out the efficacy of locally available waste carbon sources on biofloc production. Tapioca flour was found to be encompassed with more than 90% carbohydrate and was observed more suitable for microbial growth, resulting in 41.4 and 33.7% higher floc formation as compared to rice flour and wheat flour, respectively. In addition, enhanced microbial protein assimilation of 33.5% was noted in tapioca flour biofloc system with respect to wheat flour (27%) and rice flour (23.75%). All biofloc systems showed adequate water quality management in terms of nitrite and total ammonium nitrogen removal from the culture tank. The study demonstrates the effective use of waste products from flour industries in biofloc technology to obtain multi-layer benefit as waste minimization and water treatment.