Mississippi is one of the largest farm-raised shrimp-producing states in the U.S. In addition to producing bountiful quantities of shrimp, the industry generates significant amounts of wastewater that is rich in nutrients. The effluent waters that are byproducts of shrimp farms could be harmful to ecosystems if released into rivers and streams, but hold promise if recycled and used as fertilizer.
"Research on finding new uses of the wastewater from shrimp aquaculture systems would be beneficial to the aquaculture industry and to the environment," explained Valtcho D. Zheljazkov, who along with other colleagues designed experiments to see if shrimp waste water could be used successfully as a fertilizer. "To our knowledge, this was the first study using shrimp water as a nutrient source for bell peppers," the researchers noted.
The experiments featured pepper plants exposed to one of 12 treatments. The control group was irrigated with tap water and not fertilized. Another group was irrigated with the water from the shrimp tanks. Two more groups were treated with either a controlled-release fertilizer or a water-soluable fertilizer. The eight remaining groups received vermicompost fertilizer at 10%, 20%, 40%, or 80% with or without shrimp water.
Ripe peppers were continually picked, weighed, and analyzed for nutrient content. Once all of the peppers were harvested, the soil was measured for nutrient content.
The researchers' results (published in HortScience), found that plants fertilized with either of the chemical fertilizers--controlled-release or water-soluable formulas--produced the most peppers, the most peppers per plant, and the heaviest peppers. The combination of vermicompost and shrimp water yielded more peppers than the control. Shrimp water alone had better yields than vermicompost at 10% and 80%, but none of the alternatives matched the nutrient availability of the chemical fertilizers.
Shrimp water also came up lacking in terms of nutrients; nutrient levels in shrimp water were similar to those in vermicompost. "The results suggest that shrimp water and vermicompost application to bell peppers must be supplemented with another nitrogen source," the study reports.
The report also noted that measuring nutrients in the growing medium was not a good predictor of nutrients in bell peppers. Out of several nutrients measured including iron, magnesium, zinc, and calcium, only potassium levels in soil correlated with those found in the peppers.





Announcements
Job Offers
"Tweeting Growers"
Top 5 -yesterday
- UK: Grower reduces greenhouse temperature by more than 6°C during heatwave with no cooling, fog systems
- Understanding the profitability of your greenhouse
- Agave: The new drought-tolerant California crop?
- Patromex and DIDIHU partnership invests in modern plant for value-added coconut substrates
- US: Larry Ellison is feeding Hawaii from his high-tech hydroponic farm on Lanai
Top 5 -last month
- Vertical farming technologies tool in researching and fighting diseases
- German retailer Kaufland and horti-family Reichenspurner open new greenhouse
- "Water is the new gold"
- Growing strawberries from seeds becoming increasingly popular
- Higher productivity and earliness are the story behind these pink greenhouses
Recycled shrimp waste water tested as fertilizer
Shrimp water beats vermicompost for pepper production
Publication date:
Receive the daily newsletter in your email for free | Click here
Other news in this sector:
- 2022-08-11 New packaging for hydroponic fertilizer launched
- 2022-08-11 CAN: Fertilizer sanctions expected to continue into 2023 crop year
- 2022-07-20 Better fertigation with ion-specific measurements
- 2022-07-18 Verano365 readies organic wetting agent
- 2022-07-14 VitalFluid trials their Natural Nitrogen
- 2022-07-14 Chinese scientists expected to raise Pakistan tomato production
- 2022-07-08 Active ingredients: worth the investment?
- 2022-07-06 Australia: bee tracker measures real-time pollination
- 2022-07-06 "Tomato waste biofertilizer is cheaper and more sustainable than the traditional ones"
- 2022-06-30 US decided to impose a tax on nitrogen fertilizers from Russia
- 2022-06-30 Tanzania: Tomato farmers combat fertilizer shortage
- 2022-06-30 Bioline Agroscience is launching the first rhizobacterial-based biostimulant
- 2022-06-29 US (CT): Rising fertilizer prices hitting farms, parks and gardens
- 2022-06-29 Integrated Pest Management farming methods get a boost in Europe
- 2022-06-07 Organic fertilizer guidelines launched to address fertilizer crisis in Ghana
- 2022-05-27 Plant-based biostimulants from cultivated crops
- 2022-05-13 Natural Growth boosts strawberry crop in yield and sweetness
- 2022-05-11 Using an app to use resources more efficiently
- 2022-05-10 "Soaring fertilizer prices put global food security at risk"
- 2022-05-04 Human urine could be an effective and less polluting crop fertiliser