Photo credit: Kevin Fitzsimmons (USA)
Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
The integration between aquaculture and agriculture has been successfully practiced especially when the integrating components are compatible assuming the economic viability and the environmental merit of such system.
The integration of inland, low-salinity shrimp farming with traditional agriculture in Arizona provided a unique opportunity to explore the possibility of using shrimp farm effluents as an irrigation water source to more salt-tolerant field crops. Such integration was effective in reducing the eutrophication level in the discharge to comply with environmental standards. Above that, such system provides an additional agricultural crop with the use of the same water. The inserted photo shows the use of the moderately saline shrimp discharge for the irrigation of sorghum in Arizona.
Reference: McIntosh, D. and Fitzsimmons, K. 2003. Characterization of effluent from an inland, low-salinity shrimp farm: What contribution could this water make if used for irrigation. Aquacultural Engineering 27:147-156.