Nutrient Supplementations in Aquaponic Systems: A Review

Aquaponics is a sustainable production system which integrates fish production through aquaculture and crop production through hydroponics. It aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2,13 and 14) of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to become the future farming practise to compact water shortage and environmental pollution with greater cost returns. Increased feed costs and suboptimal nutrition for plants were the major drawbacks for its global adoption. In this direction, several researches focus on manipulating fish feed and supplying external nutrient to the system. This article critically reviews existing literature published on aquaponic supplementations from past two decades. Through a systematic process, 149 most constructive papers were analysed and organized into varying groups based on content. The review found that iron, potassium and phosphorus supplementations being reported as system bottlenecks are majorly explored. Optimising fruit peel supplementation in feed is the current trend to compensate feed cost, nutrient deficiency and foster sustainable management of organic wastes. Holistically, studies on optimising feed supplementations specific to systems is the need of hour to enhance productivity and ensure socioeconomic stability in cultivation.