Due to climatic and other stress factors, food products, crops, and fish yields are projected to decline in many Mediterranean areas by 205s. Under semi-arid growing conditions like those found in Mediterranean regions, greenhouse crops are usually over-irrigated so that growers prevent water and nutrient shortages.
In view of this, optimal greenhouse management is required to ensure unrestricted growth at a yield close to the maximum potential, while minimizing unsustainable exploitation of resources, especially energy, soil & water. The integration of aquatic animal and horticultural production through hydroponics, known as aquaponic systems, in a synergetic environment has been recently studied and endorsed by scientists as a real, sustainable solution to optimize the reuse of nutrient and water resources.
The present study, conducted in the frame of HortiMED H2020 PRIMA Project (Grant Number 1915) funded by the European Union, was aimed at evaluating the feasibility of combining Integrated MultiTrophic Aquaculture (IMTA, production of different aquatic species, tilapia, grey mullet, crayfish, clams, and silver carp) with horticultural production using Floating Raft System (FRS) and Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) as hydroponic systems to production different horticultural crops, red and green leaf lettuce, chili pepper, cucumber, eggplant, tomato, mallow, bell pepper, watercress, and celery) to maximize nutrient cycling resulting from culturing plants and aquatic animals.
Read the complete research at www.researchgate.net.
Abou Shabana, Nevine. (2022). Integrated MultiTrophic Aquaponics and Hydroponic To Deliver High-Quality Mediterranean Horticultural.