Principles of Organic recycling

and Detritus food chain

 Organic recycling in aquaculture
• In aquaculture specially in integrated farming
organic waste materials are recycled into pond
eco-systems in the form of both autotrophs and
heterotrophs and ultimately into fish flesh
• There are two ways of recycling:
1. Through coprology
2. Through production of fish food organisms by
way of undergoing bacterial decomposition and
mineralization
 About organic recycling
• About 90% of the organic matter like liquid raw
cow dung, field dried chicken manure etc. settle
to the pond bottom with in 2 hours after
application to the pond
• These manures require to be decomposed and
mineralized before entering into food chain of
fishes
• Thus the microorganisms play a vital role in
recycling the organic wastes in the pond
ecosystems
 Fundamental steps of organic
recycling
1. Bacterial decomposition of organic wastes
2. Detritus formation
3. Mineralization
4. Bacterial production
5. Immobilization
6. Nutrient circulation
7. Oxygen consumption etc.
 Food Web
• The network of food relationships found in nature is
known as the food web
• Pond ecosystem has three biological components
1. Producers( autotrophs): The green chlorophyll
bearing organisms converting inorganic substances
into carbohydrate
2. Consumers( heterotrophs): consume autotrophs
3. Decomposers: comprising microorganisms which
break down organic matter generated by the death
of producers and consumed by the process of decay
and release of soluble materials in the medium
Conversion of organic wastes in pond
ecosystems
• The ponds makes an excellent environment for converting crude
inedible waste into high quality fish food
• The nutrients and minerals originally bound in relatively
indigestible form are released by intense microbial activity in
the water column and at the pond bottom and provide substrate
for photosynthetic ( autotrophic) and microbial( heterotrophic)
production of biotic food
• Animal waste as a food consumed directly by the fish as a part of
the food web and rest are utilized as a source of organic
substrate for heterotrophic microorganisms which in turn may be
consumed directly by the fish or by zooplankton
• Also as a source of minerals used for photosynthetic production
and
• Fish excreta as food and fertilizers
 Direct Feeding
• The mineral waste is consumed directly by
coprophagus carps like common carp, mrigal
etc.
• Food while passing through the alimentary
canal of the pig , get activated with certain
enzymes which continues to digest it even
after voiding
• Pig dung contains 70% digestible food for the
fish
 Autotrophic production
• The nutrient material necessary for primary
production i.e. photosynthesis are water, carbon
compounds(C), Nitrogen compounds(N) and
phosphorous compound(P)
• The addition of organic waste in the pond provides a
nutrient base for dense blooms of phytoplankton,
particularly nano-plankton which in turn trigger
intense zooplankton population
• The zooplankton have an additional food source in
the bacteria which thrive upon the organic fraction of
the added manure
 Autotrophic production…….
• The zooplankton production is then overgraze the
phytoplankton production and the process,
photosynthetic oxygen becomes inadequate to
supply the respiration demands of the total pond
community(zooplankton, phytoplankton, bacteria,
protozoa etc.)
• The pond becomes anaerobic , the zooplankton
population dies gradually, decays and a new cycle of
phytoplankton growth starts
• However, if stocked with multispecies combination,
the extreme cycles do not happen while organic load
found high in fish pond
 Heterotrophic production
• Organic waste favours detritus production in
pond bottom which in turn becomes
substrate for colonization of micro-
organisms essential for food chains
• These micro-organisms apart from forming
the basis for food chains, are also eaten
directly by zooplankton as well as fish
 Role of bacteria in decomposition
process: Heterotrophic bacteria
• Heterotrophic bacteria require organic matter at least a
part of their nutrition
• These include saprophytic and parasitic bacteria
• They may be aerobic , anaerobic, facultative ,micro-
anaerophilic, psychrophiles, mesophiles or thermophyies
• Several groups of bacteria in water involved in
decomposition of organic matters and nutrient recycling
Viz. Ammonifires, nitrifires, denitrifires, aerobic and
anaerobic nitrogen fixers, urea decomposers, aerobic and
anaerobic phosphorus solubilizers, protein decomposers,
methane producers, sulphate reducers, purple and green
sulphar bacteria etc.
 Other higher form of bacteria in
decomposition process
• Sheathed forms-chamydo bacteria, Caulo
bacteria, spiral forms, a varieties of bacilli,
cocci etc.
 Factors regulating decomposition
process
1. Decomposition of organic matter( wastes) is favoured
by warmth(5-35°C)
2. Degradation process is faster in neutral and alkaline
systems
3. Aerobic decomposition requires a continuous supply of
oxygen
4. The rate of break down of organic matter is not as rapid
under anaerobic condition as under aerobic condition
5. Decomposition is very slow in nitrogen deficient
medium
6. Organic matter with a wide C:N ratio decomposes of a
much slower rate then organic matter with narrow
C:N ratio
Detritus formation, Decomposition &
Mineralization
• Detritus formation: when the microbes( bacteria) come into
contact with organic wastes, they release biological catalysts
“enzyme” in the medium, their purpose is to disslove the
nutrients and its consumption for their nourishment
• Substrates that can not be assimilated by the cells and
dissolved into the environment
• Bacteria use dissolved organic matter to produce an
extracellular organic matrix
• The mass of this organic matrix can exceed the mass of bacteria
manifolds
• Thus the detritus is formed along with dissolved organic matter,
provide a rich substrate for bacteria and finally converted into
particulate food for other aquatic organisms like protozoa etc.
 Decomposition
• Decomposition is known to occur in 2 phases :
1. Leaching phase
2. Microbial mineralization phase:
3. Leaching phase: Leaching is defined as the liberation of
dissolved materials from the particulate detritus. After a
few hours of release of excreta into pond, a large
number of rod-shaped bacteria develop on the
substratum. A few days later, large population of small
cocci appear both in liquid phase and at the surface of
the substratum. The leached dissolved organic matter is
used up by the first population of bacteria and the
depletion of the nutrients in the liquid phase induce the
colonization of the microbes
 Decomposition……
. Later on myxobacterial species appear and invade the small particles of organic
substance and cell surface of the large cocci
The intense initial colonization is completed with in a few days
Later, during the course of stabilization, the decolonization of bacteria starts
and numbers of bacteria with in the detritus complex decrease gradually
The fragments which consist essentially of alginic acid and cellulose undergo
further aerobic degradation in the water mass of the ecosystem
The remaining organic matter settles down at the bottom and undergoes further
decay
The decomposition of organic remains thus deposited at the bottom passes
through 2 stages
1. The first stage is the anaerobic decomposition and formation of soluble
reduced products
2. Second stage involves aerobic breakdown which occurs at the boundary of
the aerobic and anaerobic zones . Hence the boundary of the reduce zones (
surface film of bottom sediment) becomes an additional area of vigorous
activity for organic production apart from the zone of photosynthesis
 Nutrient cycling
• The movement of energy and inorganic
compounds from one compartment(pool) to the
other in the system is referred as nutrient cycle
• The nutrient released by way of decomposition
are utilized by primary producers and stored by
them as complex plant materials
• Carbon , nitrogen, phosphate etc. are important
nutrients released from the organic sources
through bacterial action
• In aquatic ecosystem several Important cycles
took place
 Nutrient cycle
1. Carbon cycle
2. Nitrogen cycle
3. Phosphate cycle
4. Sulfur cycle( reduced)
 Carbon cycle

• In the process of photosynthesis , free CO2 and bicarbonates

become part of the phytoplankton and higher aquatic vegetation
• Heterotrophic bacteria develop mainly to the expense of
allochthonous organic matter remnants of phytoplankton
• The remains of dead organisms and organic wastes undergo
aerobic decomposition
• This process leads to formation of CO2 and aquatic humus part
of humus becomes organic matter of the silt in the bottom and a
fraction of it undergoes bacterial decomposition with the
formation of CO2
• The deposited organic matter in the sediment further undergoes
anaerobic decomposition with the formation of methane
 Nitrogen cycle

• The organic nitrogen is mineralized by

bacterial species possessing photolytic
enzymes that include aerobic and anaerobic
bacteria, fungi etc.
• Proteins are deaminated by bacterial activities
and ammonia-N is produced. The process is
called ammonification
• Process of nitrification is oxidation of ammonia
to nitrite and to nitrate through
chemoautotrophic bacteria
 Phosphate cycle
• Microbial decomposition of organic matter release
orthophosphate
• Major steps involved in the phosphorous cycle comprise
increase in solubility of inorganic phosphate compounds
and formation orthophosphates, transformation of
assimiable inorganic phosphate into organic phosphorous
as a protoplasmic ingredient
• Bacterial species such as pseudomonas, mycobacterium,
micrococcus, flavobacterium or fungus species like
penicillium and aspergillums and thus convert tricalcium
phosphate to soluble secondary phosphate