EFFECTS OF PLANT GROWTH IN AN INTEGRATED MULTI-TROPHIC LEVEL SYSTEM

Aquaculture and hydroponics are an important source of food and nutrition throughout the world and involve the farming of aquatic organisms and plants in environments without soil. Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics and produces both aquatic organisms and plants efficiently. The idea of aquaponics has been taken to an additional level of complexity recently through the concept of integrated multi-trophic level aquaculture (IMTA). This allows for many different levels of organisms to be grown and reduces waste because the system allows for each organism to utilize the byproducts of another trophic level. A system was built in the greenhouse at Bowling Green State University utilizing 2 organisms Perca flavascens, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, and four vegetable crops: Lactula sativa, Brassica oleraea, Ocimum basilicum, and Thymus vulgaris. Two primary goals were investigated. The first was to measure the height and weight of the plants in the system to determine the growth rate of plants using the nutrients generated. The second goal was to calculate nitrogen and phosphorus consumption rates of the various plants. To date, the plants have grown well, especially the basil and kale, which have grown 4.5 and 13 times their starting weight since the start of the trial. Our results indicate that the plants have effectively removed nitrogen and phosphorus from the water.