The plankton abundance fluctuation in traditional ponds by the use of organic fertilizer from poultry manure

Abstract

Fertilizer is required to fertilize the soil and water in order to develop natural food for fish such as klekap and plankton. The aim of this research is to investigate the fluctuation of plankton abundance by the use of organic fertilizer from poultry manure. The research was carried out in ponds in Mondoe Village, South Konawe Regency, Souteast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Chicken manure (1.5 tons) was composted through a fermentation process with the addition of fermented liquid 100 litre consisting of commercial probiotics, sugar and water (ratio 1: 1: 100) given in two stages with an interval of two-three days (volume 70% and 30%). Fermentation occurs in an-aerobic condition where organic matter was covered with plastic. Fertilizer was ready to be used after being aerated and kept about a month. The two hectare pond was given fertilizer, then after pond soil and water had shown discoloration as a sign of growing klekap and plankton, cultured organisms (100,000 vaname shrimp juveniles) were stocked. Water quality parameters were measured every month for three times including the species and abundance of plankton, diversity and evenness index, as well as physical and chemical parameters of water. The highest density of plankton was accounted for by Chaetoceros, followed by Oscillatoria and Protoperidinium. The diversity index for the plankton (H) ranged between 0.718 and 1.712 cell.L-1 across monthly sampling, while the evenness index (E) ranged between 0.327 and 0.714 cell.L-1. Plankton abundance increased very sharply in the second month to (21,332 cell.L-1) and provided a source of nutrition for shrimps to grow.The results show that chicken manure compost supports the growth of plankton as well as the growth of shrimp.