Description

Abstract: An experiment was conducted in fifteen earthen ponds at the Asian Institute of Technology

(AIT), Thailand, during June to November 1998 to identify the source of clay turbidity mitigation techniques and their effects on fish growth and water quality, and to find a suitable approach for turbidity mitigation during the rainy season. There were five treatments: (A) control; (B) covering upper 50 cm pond dikes with black plastic material to prevent turbidity from run-off (edge-covered); (C) covering pond bottoms with small mesh (1 cm) net to prevent turbidity from fish disturbance (bottom-covered); and (E) covering pond dikes with rice straw (straw-covered). All ponds were fertilized weekly with chicken manure at a rate of 500 kg ha- 1 (dry matter basis) supplemented with urea and triple superphosphate (TSP) to provide 28 kg N per ha per week and 7 kg P per ha per week. Sex-reversed all-male Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were stocked at two fish per square meter at a size of 19.0