Agricultural Engineering Department, The Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
Falayi, F.R., Agricultural Engineering Department, The Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria; Ogunlowo, A.S., Agricultural Engineering Department, The Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria; Alatise, M.O., Agricultural Engineering Department, The Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
The need to find alternative but productive means of managing animal waste in the modern day agriculture waste cannot be over emphasised. One important means of managing these wastes is through conversion to important use either as animal feeds or as manures. Fish farming can be combined with poultry, animal husbandry and irrigation practices, which can lead to higher production and net profits. This practice is called integrated fish farming or integrated aquaculture. The integration of animal husbandry, especially poultry, with fish farming in a small scale results in the production of organic manure for the fertilization of the fish pond to increase the production of the natural food organism (planktonic algae) to be eaten by the fish. In some cases, the poultry wastes are used as direct food by some fish without supplementary feedings, such species include Nile Tilapia and catfish. An integrated poultry/fishery housing unit was designed and constructed such that poultry droppings were made to drop into the ponds directly and used as feed for clarias gariepinus. The set-up was made of four concrete ponds on which three wooden battery cages were mounted except the fourth pond which served as the control. The ponds were stocked with twenty (20) juvenile clarias garipinus each. There were four treatments and 3 replicates, fish in pond 1, two and three were fed with droppings from one broiler, two broilers and three broilers respectively. While fish in ponds 4 were fed with the fish concentrate. A total of 6 birds (4 weeks old) and 80 juvenile clarias gariepinus were used. This experiment lasted for 6 months. During this period, the environmental parameters were monitored and the effect of poultry waste on the development of the fish was analysed. There were remarkable differences in the microclimate inside and outside the building. The birds were well protected from harsh environmental conditions and a uniform development was recorded. Pollution resulting from the use of poultry droppings adversely affected the development of the fish. Increase in the volume of droppings led to increase in the Bio-Chemical oxygen demand and Chemical Oxygen demand of the pond water which consequently led to a decrease in the dissolved oxygen. Water turbidity also increased with increased droppings. Other water parameters like conductivity, chloride and pH values were within acceptable values suggested in literatures. The system has shown the possibility of effective poultry waste management technique which ensured that nothing is wasted and waste handling problem is grossly reduced. © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2008.