Role of production intensification on water use efficiency in catfish pond aquaculture

Authors: TUCKER, CRAIG; BROWN, TRAVIS; POTE, JONATHAN - MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY; WAX, CHARLES - MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Annual Meeting World Aquaculture Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2015
Publication Date: 2/2/2016
Citation: Tucker, C.S., Brown, T.W., Pote, J.W., Wax, C.L. 2016. Role of production intensification on water use efficiency in catfish pond aquaculture. Annual Meeting World Aquaculture Society. P. 83.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Availability of fresh water is sometimes considered to be a limiting factor for future aquaculture development. This is certainly true at specific local levels where aquaculture may conflict with other water uses. A good example is the Yazoo-Mississippi River floodplain in northwest Mississippi, where water use in pond culture of ictalurid catfishes has combined with high rates of water withdrawal for crop irrigation to cause unsustainable declines in ground water availability. We used a 50-year (1961-2010) daily weather record in a hydrological model to quantify the effects of seepage, reusing water for multiple years, managing water levels to capture rainfall (drop-fill water management), and intensifying production on ground water use in catfish aquaculture. Selecting sites with relatively impervious soils and reusing water for multiple years had large impacts on annual water use, and combining those practices with drop-fill water management reduced simulated groundwater withdrawal to less than 60 cm/year compared with more than 450 cm/year for the least conservative scenario. Water conservation measures reduced estimated annual cost of pumping ground water from ~$1,150/ha for the least conservative set of water-use variables to less than $110/ha for the best set of water conservation practices. Efficiency of pumped water use was dramatically improved by intensifying production in the foodfish grow-out phase by using hybrid catfish grown in intensively aerated or split ponds. Combining water-conservation practices with production intensification improved the water use index from 9.18 m3/kg for foodfish grow-out ponds with the least conservative set of practices to 0.28 m3/kg for ponds built on soils with negligible seepage, managed with a 22.9-cm drop/7.6-cm fill, drained every 10 years, and producing 15,000 kg of catfish/ha per year. When simulated ground water use for the best set of water conservation practices in foodfish grow-out ponds was combined with estimates of ground water used for fingerling production and water used in producing grain-based feedstuffs, total consumptive water use index for catfish culture was estimated at ~2.7 m3/kg. This index is competitive with most other types of animal agriculture. Efficient water use in catfish farming is easily achieved under commercial conditions using existing simple technologies that include production intensification.