The impact of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) ponds effluent on yield and concentration of nutrition elements on silage corn

In this study, the effect of the effluent from rainbow trout ponds was investigated on the yield, concentration and uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and micronutrients on the silage corn in the Golpayegan research station for Husbandry and Agriculture in Isfahan. 45000 fish with an average weight of 10 ± 2 g were uniformly divided in 9 ponds (20 × 2.2 × 1.3 m) for six months. The research was conducted in a complete randomized block design with five treatments in triplicate. The treatments were included 1) irrigation with well water without any fertilizer as the control, 2) irrigation with well water and use of urea, triple superphosphate and potassium sulfate as the fertilizers, 3) irrigation with fish ponds effluents without any fertilizer, 4) irrigation with fish ponds effluents and use of the fertilizer, and 5) irrigation with fish ponds effluents with 50 percent of the fertilizer. Results showed that the use of fish ponds effluents significantly caused increasing in corn yield and concentration of zinc, cupper, nitrogen, phosphorus, manganese and iron (p<0.05). In addition, using fish ponds effluents with the 50% of chemical fertilizer led to increase corn yield by 44 percent compared to the control group (p<0.05). Moreover, the uptake of iron, zinc, copper and manganese by corn were increased significantly compared to the control group through use of fish ponds effluents water with fertilizer (p<0.05). The highest and lowest yield of corn was obtained in the irrigation with the effluent of fish ponds effluents coupled with chemical fertilizers and the control group, equal to 73.7 and 44.4 tons per hectare, respectively, which had significant difference with each other (p<0.05). Therefore, the use of fish farm effluents for production of corn not only increased the yield but also dramatically enhanced fertilizer utilization.