Aquaculture and Agroponic Engineering

Students will after taking this course have the capacity to: 1. appreciate fish farming, the machinery involved and integration of fish farming aspect to the other crop and livestock enterprises on a farm; 2. design mechanized fish ponds, conserve water, manage the wastes from the ponds; 3. design and construct efficient fish drying kilns; and 4. explain the benefits, practice and management of agroponic agriculture.

Aquaculture: Types of fish ponds. Design and construction of fish ponds. Integrated fish farming. Water quality for fish farming. Water conservation. Machinery for fish farms. Pollution control. Ecological re-use and disposal of water. Product harvesting, sorting and processing. Design of fish kilns. Agroponics: Agroponic farming systems. Prospects of agroponic agriculture in Nigeria. Soil and water management in agroponic systems. Economics of agroponic systems. Modern aquaponics and hydroponics systems design and use. Practical content: Each student is expected to plant a yam seedling in a bag of sand and monitor its growth until harvest during the semester. Excursion: Visit to a commercial fish farm site or the university fish farm.