Energy budget in the lambari monoculture and integrated cultures with Amazon river prawn and curimbatá

Abstract

Integrated farming is recognized as a conscious way of using natural resources in aquaculture, and rational use of energy is one of the main factors in increasing the sustainability of the production system. The input of energy is essential in the various systems, such as products called energy inputs and accumulates in the different compartments of the system. The understanding of the energy balance is important to understand how the energy in its different forms is distributed in the compartments. Thus, in this work we test the hypothesis that the energy accumulated in the compartments can be different in each type of crop (monkey and integrated culture) from the insertion of species that occupy different trophic niches and with different eating habits. To understand the energy balance, the main compartments were selected and the energy value in Megajoule (MJ) was quantified. The experiment will last four months in 12 natural-based nurseries with three treatments and four replications, with a lambari-do-tailed-monkey (Astyanax lacustris) monoculture system and two integrated cultures of the lambari-do-tailed-yellow species, Amazonian shrimp (Macrobrachium amazonicum) and yellow-tailed lambari, Amazonian shrimp and curimbatá (Prochilodus lineatus). Only lambaris will be fed a commercial diet twice a day to satiety, the other species will benefit from the residues produced in the system. Solar and atmospheric radiation will be measured, and samples of incoming and outgoing water, animals, sediment, absorbed and emitted gases and dead animals will be collected for the determination of the energy content. Inputs of electricity and human labor will be estimated. Based on these data, the energy balance of the three treatments studied and the effect of the addition of species with different trophic niches on the energy accumulated in the different compartments will be determined. (AU)