Aquaculture Pond Fertilization: Impacts of Nutrient Input on Production

Ponds are a primary production system to a wide variety of freshwater fish species. Each species have specific and unique nutrient needs and successful pond fertilization is critical to a successful aquaculture enterprise.  Aquaculture Pond Fertilization: Impacts of Nutrient Input on Production provides state–of–the–art information for successful fertilization strategies for a broad range of pond–raised species. Aquaculture Pond Fertilization attempts to rectify the seemingly contradictory nutrient recommendations by clearly defining the goals of specific types of aquaculture. Chapters are divided into three sections: The first reviews basic concepts in fertilization applicable to all pond–based production. The second looks at specific nutrient management approaches. The third and final section of chapters looks specifically at key freshwater pond species ranging from tilapia to perch and discusses specific fertilization needs for the successful rearing of these in–demand fish. Looking across species with chapters contributed by leaders in the field Aquaculture Pond Fertilization provides succinct single–volume coverage of an oft–neglected, but vitally important topic in aquaculture production.

Contributors vii Preface ix Section 1: General Fertilization Concepts 1 Chapter 1 Nutrient Cycling 3 Claude E. Boyd Chapter 2 Pond Ecology 23 Ana Milstein Chapter 3 Organic and Inorganic Fertilization 33 Richard W. Soderberg Chapter 4 Water Quality and Pond Fertilization 47 laude E. Boyd Chapter 5 Environmental Issues in Pond Fertilization 65 Claude E. Boyd and Li Li Chapter 6 Controlling Plant Pests before Fertilization 73 Jimmy L. Avery Section 2: Management Approaches to Pond Fertilization 93 Chapter 7 Management Strategy 1: Manipulation of Pond Nutrient Ratios 95 Jian G. Qin Chapter 8 Management Strategy 2: The Algal Bioassay Fertilization Strategy—An Ecological Approach for Efficient Pond Fertilization 111 Christopher F. Knud–Hansen Chapter 9 Management Strategy 3: Fixed–Rate Fertilizer Applications 129 Charles C. Mischke Section 3: Common Fertilization Practices Currently Used for Production of Selected Species under Various Culture Conditions 135 Chapter 10 Channel Catfish Pond Fertilization 137 Charles C. Mischke Chapter 11 Walleye and Yellow Perch Pond Fertilization 147 Christopher F. Hartleb, J. Alan Johnson, and James A. Held Chapter 12 Some Principles of Pond Fertilization for Nile Tilapia Using Organic and Inorganic Inputs 163 James S. Diana Chapter 13 Fertilizing Sunshine Bass Production Ponds 179 Gerald M. Ludwig Chapter 14 Challenges to the Intensification of Largemouth Bass Culture 197 Shawn D. Coyle, Gerald Kurten, Steve Marple, and James H. Tidwell Chapter 15 Baitfish Pond Fertilization 217 Nathan Stone Chapter 16 Carp Pond Fertilization 235 Debajyoti Chakrabarty and Sanjib Kumar Das Chapter 17 Sportfish Pond Fertilization 245 J. Wesley Neal and Robert Kr¨oger Chapter 18 Fertilization of Marine Finfish Nursery Ponds for Aquaculture Production 259 Charles R. Weirich and Jesse A. Chappell Index 277 Color plates appear between pages 134 and 135.

Charles C. Mischke is a Research Professor at the Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center and the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture at Mississippi State University.

“Aquaculture Pond Fertilization has shortcomings, but the book is nonetheless a useful addition to the fish–farming literature. It will probably be of most interest to those involved in carrying out research into the farming of freshwater finfish and may be of value to practicing fish culturists, and the book also has something to offer college and university students taking degree programs in aquatic biology and aquaculture.”  ( Journal of Aquaculture , 1 September 2012)